July 2, 2008 7:16 PM

Molson Coors CFO - no ordinary departure

(UPDATED with company comment on pension.)

Timothy Wolf, chief financial officer of Molson Coors, has separated from the company to join new joint venture MillerCoors as chief integration officer.

This departure is a little atypical than most, since Molson Coors is willingly contributing top execs like Wolf and CEO Leo Kiely. It's like a new assignment with the company, except it's technically with a different company.

So, a formal separation agreement has been crafted, and a separation-like payment has been paid: $1,601,250, to be precise. (And, actually, MillerCoors has made an identical $1,601,250 payment, bringing the total to just over $3.2 million.)

The agreement says, however, "the termination of the Executive's employment with the Company pursuant to the terms of this Agreement shall not be considered a "separation" pursuant to the terms of any applicable pension plans maintained by or on behalf of the Company."

I took that legalese to mean Wolf retains and continues to accrue in his Molson Coors executive pension. But spokeswoman Kabira Hatland tells me Wolf "will be paid by MillerCoors and part of the MillerCoors pension plan."

The agreement states, his Molson Coors stock options and restricted-share awards continue on their original vesting schedule, provided he stays with MillerCoors.

This is actually a governance positive in my book - the alternative, in a separation, is to make the options and shares vest and become usable immediately. That would be overly generous - since Wolf's separation isn't a true separation.

Posted by David Milstead at 7:16 PM | Comments (0)