Apache Shareholders Don't Approve Executive Compensation

Apache Corp. shareholders didn't approve the energy company's executive compensation plan for 2012 at its annual meeting Thursday, making their displeasure with the company's performance known.

Fewer than half of the voting shareholders, 49.8%, voted for the compensation plan for named executives. The vote Thursday is advisory and the board has no legal obligation to make changes to the 2012 pay package.

Apache spokesman John Roper said the company sees the vote as a comment on share performance. Apache shares are down 7.3% from a year ago. Shares fell 1.2% to $80.89 Thursday.

"We want to see our performance improve as well and to do so we need to hit 3% to 5% percent growth and execute our plan. We believe we have the right plan in place to do that," Mr. Roper said.

Apache has said it plans to sell $4 billion in assets this year to focus on North American onshore production, which it thinks will provide the best return, and to rid itself of land that hasn't been as profitable as it hoped. It will use the proceeds to pay down debt and buy back shares.

Chief Executive Steven Farris said during the meeting that he believes the company's share price has lagged because it has fallen short of production expectations and because of anxiety over its position in Egypt.

"We've got a great company, we do a great job, but in the last four or five quarters, we haven't done what we said we were going to do," he said. "We have missed estimates, and we cannot make commitments to shareholders we don't meet."

Praveen Kumar, executive director of UH Global Energy Management Institute at the University of Houston's C.T. Bauer College of Business, said the board doesn't have to do anything in response to Thursday's vote, but it might want to, as such a vote can indicate that shareholders are united in their dissatisfaction. Last year over 95% of shareholders voted to approve the company's executive compensation for 2011.

"It is probably a kid of firing across the bow, indicating to the board that there is shareholder resistance," Mr. Kumar said.

Also at Thursday's meeting, shareholders elected three directors to Apache's board.

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HRT Names Milton Franke New Chief Executive

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian startup oil company HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA said Monday that Milton Franke will take over as chief executive, completing an unexpected management shakeup at the firm.

Franke takes over for founder Marcio Rocha Mello, who resigned as CEO late Friday. The company's board of directors opposed Mr. Mello's decision and had asked him to reconsider, but he ultimately declined. Mr. Mello will remain as a member of the company's board of directors.

Mr. Franke previously served as HRT's production director, joining the firm in 2009 after a lengthy stint at state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras. Mr. Franke's history with HRT and extensive experience in Brazil's oil industry will make for a stable leadership transition, said HRT Chairman John Willott.

HRT also said that Wagner Peres, president of the company's HRT America unit, resigned Friday. A replacement for Mr. Peres, who will remain a member of the company's board, hasn't yet been named, HRT said.

The moves come as HRT prepares for an auction of new oil and natural gas exploration concessions set for Tuesday and Wednesday. HRT, however, wasn't expected to be a big player at the auction--Brazil's first in five years--after a recent acquisition and as the company hoards its cash for its current exploration investments. HRT is focused on developing inland natural gas deposits discovered in Brazil's remote Amazon jungle as well as exploring for oil off the coast of Namibia.

Last week, HRT completed the purchase of a 60% stake in the Polvo offshore oil field in Brazil. HRT paid the local unit of BP Plc (BP, BP.LN) $135 million for the stake in the field, which produces about 13,000 barrels per day. HRT owns a 55% interest in 21 exploratory blocks in Brazil's Solimoes Basin. The company also operates 10 exploration blocks off the coast of Namibia and holds minority interest in two others. In April, HRT started drilling its first well in Namibia.

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Executive Chairman Irani Leaving Occidental Petroleum

The rising wave of shareholder activism has claimed another corporate chieftain: Ray Irani, the executive chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) and one of the most highly paid executives of the last decade.

Mr. Irani, who spent three decades at Occidental, will leave his post at the helm of the board, the company said in a statement released after its shareholder meeting Friday. The 78-year-old, who was forced to step aside as CEO two years ago over his outsized pay, recently angered shareholders by trying to oust the oil-and-gas company's current chief executive.

Occidental said in a regulatory filing Friday that eight of the 10 board members up for re-election won the approval of a majority of shareholders. The list didn't include Mr. Irani. The filing said that independent director Aziz Syriani, who was close to the chairman and also sought re-election, had resigned on Thursday.

In a follow-up statement, Occidental said one of the re-elected board members, Edward Djerejian, would assume the role of independent chairman. He is a former U.S. ambassador to Syria and Israel. Former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham will become vice chairman, the company said.

Under Mr. Irani's leadership, Los Angeles-based Occidental grew into the fourth-largest U.S. oil-and-gas company by market value. As executive chairman, he retained considerable clout within the company. But it all came to an end after weeks of growing shareholder discontent over Mr. Irani's effort to remove CEO Steve Chazen earlier this year and the board's handling of succession planning for the CEO post.

Mr. Irani's defeat "is a pretty amazing thing. It happens very rarely, particularly for a company of this size and reputation," said Charles Elson, head of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at University of Delaware's business school.

"It shows how far shareholder activism has come," added Mr. Elson, who is a board member at HealthSouth Corp. "The day of the management-dominated corporation may be on its way out, replaced by a much more balanced approach" that also reflects investor views, he said.

Mr. Irani's ouster comes in the wake of several successful coups led by activist shareholders and backed by investment advisory firms. A long-simmering rebellion at Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) led to the departure in April of co-founder and longtime CEO Aubrey McClendon, and dissident investors shook up SandRidge Energy Inc.'s board in March.

At Occidental's Friday meeting in the Los Angeles area, Mr. Chazen, the CEO, spent several minutes eulogizing Mr. Irani as a photo of the two men together was projected on the screen, said shareholder John Chevedden, who attended the meeting.

"He talked about [Irani's] knowledge of global politics, how they'd have disagreements but the next day call each other to say the other was right," Mr. Chevedden said.

Now Mr. Chazen, who is slated to retire in late 2014, has the freedom to continue to pursue cost-cutting measures and perhaps a restructuring of the business, such as selling off assets, said Guy Baber, vice president of equity research at Houston-based investment bank Simmons & Co.

"His departure signifies the end an era for Oxy," Mr. Baber said.

Mr. Irani joined Occidental in 1983 as chairman and CEO of its chemicals business. He took on those roles for the entire company in 1990, succeeding legendary Occidental founder and philanthropist Armand Hammer upon his death.

Mr. Irani has long been among the highest paid executives. He realized more than $1.1 billion in compensation from Occidental since 1994, according to calculations by The Wall Street Journal and Kevin Murphy of the University of Southern California. The total includes salaries, bonuses, perks and realized gains on both restricted stock and stock options. A 2010 analysis by the Journal and Mr. Murphy found that Mr. Irani was the third-highest paid CEO of the prior decade.

He was scheduled to the retire at the end of 2014, a departure imposed on him two years ago when investors unhappy with his oversized compensation forced him from the CEO post and replaced him with longtime heir-apparent Mr. Chazen.

The latest developments at Occidental don't ensure Mr. Chazen smooth sailing, however. "This is not a vote of confidence in Chazen," Mr. Elson suggested. But the CEO does get "some breathing room to attempt to improve his relationships with his investors," said Mr. Elson, adding that "you're going to see some rather significant changes in management" as Mr. Chazen tries "to find common ground with investors."

The company's performance has lagged under Mr. Chazen's leadership as efforts to increase oil and gas production ran into problems with cost overruns. Despite those challenges, a Feb. 14 announcement by the company that it would begin searching for a new CEO struck many analysts and investors as unexpected and unnecessary.

In March, The Wall Street Journal reported that the surprise announcement was preceded by Mr. Irani's trying to replace Mr. Chazen with a former company executive. Two Occidental investors, First Pacific Advisors LLC and Matrix Asset Advisors Inc., then said in open letters that they were troubled by the report and supported keeping Mr. Chazen.

Advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis & Co. recommended votes against Mr. Irani and against the company's pay plans ahead of the shareholder meeting.

That prompted the Occidental board to make a highly unusual move earlier this week, saying that Mr. Chazen would stay on through 2014, that CEO and board pay would be cut and that former company CEOs would be prohibited from serving as chairman. At the same time, the company said Mr. Irani would be replaced by an independent board member sometime in the future.

It is rare for chairmen to lose their jobs. Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman Ray Lane was narrowly re-elected earlier this year with 58.9% of the vote, but he chose to give up the title, though not his board seat, soon after. In 2009, Bank of America Corp. Chairman and CEO Ken Lewis was effectively voted out of the chairmanship when investors voted to separate the two roles. He stepped down as CEO later that year.

Mr. Irani will remain a large shareholder at Occidental. He currently holds about 8.1 million shares worth $639 million, more than 1% of the shares outstanding of the company, putting him in the top 15 of shareholders. That stake could grow depending on what kind of a parting package he receives.

According to the company's most recent proxy statement, if Mr. Irani had retired from the company at the end of last year he could have received a package worth more than $20 million. This includes more than $15 million in company shares tied to his long-term incentive pay package, $5.7 million in life insurance coverage, ongoing medical and dental coverage for his wife and him, about $2.2 million annually to cover security services, tax preparation and financial planning services, club dues and travel benefits, and $800,000 for unused vacation time.

--Scott Thurm contributed to this article.

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Executive Chairman Irani Leaving Occidental Petroleum

The rising wave of shareholder activism has claimed another corporate chieftain: Ray Irani, the executive chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) and one of the most highly paid executives of the last decade.

Mr. Irani, who spent three decades at Occidental, will leave his post at the helm of the board, the company said in a statement released after its shareholder meeting Friday. The 78-year-old, who was forced to step aside as CEO two years ago over his outsized pay, recently angered shareholders by trying to oust the oil-and-gas company's current chief executive.

Occidental said in a regulatory filing Friday that eight of the 10 board members up for re-election won the approval of a majority of shareholders. The list didn't include Mr. Irani. The filing said that independent director Aziz Syriani, who was close to the chairman and also sought re-election, had resigned on Thursday.

In a follow-up statement, Occidental said one of the re-elected board members, Edward Djerejian, would assume the role of independent chairman. He is a former U.S. ambassador to Syria and Israel. Former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham will become vice chairman, the company said.

Under Mr. Irani's leadership, Los Angeles-based Occidental grew into the fourth-largest U.S. oil-and-gas company by market value. As executive chairman, he retained considerable clout within the company. But it all came to an end after weeks of growing shareholder discontent over Mr. Irani's effort to remove CEO Steve Chazen earlier this year and the board's handling of succession planning for the CEO post.

Mr. Irani's defeat "is a pretty amazing thing. It happens very rarely, particularly for a company of this size and reputation," said Charles Elson, head of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at University of Delaware's business school.

"It shows how far shareholder activism has come," added Mr. Elson, who is a board member at HealthSouth Corp. "The day of the management-dominated corporation may be on its way out, replaced by a much more balanced approach" that also reflects investor views, he said.

Mr. Irani's ouster comes in the wake of several successful coups led by activist shareholders and backed by investment advisory firms. A long-simmering rebellion at Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) led to the departure in April of co-founder and longtime CEO Aubrey McClendon, and dissident investors shook up SandRidge Energy Inc.'s board in March.

At Occidental's Friday meeting in the Los Angeles area, Mr. Chazen, the CEO, spent several minutes eulogizing Mr. Irani as a photo of the two men together was projected on the screen, said shareholder John Chevedden, who attended the meeting.

"He talked about [Irani's] knowledge of global politics, how they'd have disagreements but the next day call each other to say the other was right," Mr. Chevedden said.

Now Mr. Chazen, who is slated to retire in late 2014, has the freedom to continue to pursue cost-cutting measures and perhaps a restructuring of the business, such as selling off assets, said Guy Baber, vice president of equity research at Houston-based investment bank Simmons & Co.

"His departure signifies the end an era for Oxy," Mr. Baber said.

Mr. Irani joined Occidental in 1983 as chairman and CEO of its chemicals business. He took on those roles for the entire company in 1990, succeeding legendary Occidental founder and philanthropist Armand Hammer upon his death.

Mr. Irani has long been among the highest paid executives. He realized more than $1.1 billion in compensation from Occidental since 1994, according to calculations by The Wall Street Journal and Kevin Murphy of the University of Southern California. The total includes salaries, bonuses, perks and realized gains on both restricted stock and stock options. A 2010 analysis by the Journal and Mr. Murphy found that Mr. Irani was the third-highest paid CEO of the prior decade.

He was scheduled to the retire at the end of 2014, a departure imposed on him two years ago when investors unhappy with his oversized compensation forced him from the CEO post and replaced him with longtime heir-apparent Mr. Chazen.

The latest developments at Occidental don't ensure Mr. Chazen smooth sailing, however. "This is not a vote of confidence in Chazen," Mr. Elson suggested. But the CEO does get "some breathing room to attempt to improve his relationships with his investors," said Mr. Elson, adding that "you're going to see some rather significant changes in management" as Mr. Chazen tries "to find common ground with investors."

The company's performance has lagged under Mr. Chazen's leadership as efforts to increase oil and gas production ran into problems with cost overruns. Despite those challenges, a Feb. 14 announcement by the company that it would begin searching for a new CEO struck many analysts and investors as unexpected and unnecessary.

In March, The Wall Street Journal reported that the surprise announcement was preceded by Mr. Irani's trying to replace Mr. Chazen with a former company executive. Two Occidental investors, First Pacific Advisors LLC and Matrix Asset Advisors Inc., then said in open letters that they were troubled by the report and supported keeping Mr. Chazen.

Advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis & Co. recommended votes against Mr. Irani and against the company's pay plans ahead of the shareholder meeting.

That prompted the Occidental board to make a highly unusual move earlier this week, saying that Mr. Chazen would stay on through 2014, that CEO and board pay would be cut and that former company CEOs would be prohibited from serving as chairman. At the same time, the company said Mr. Irani would be replaced by an independent board member sometime in the future.

It is rare for chairmen to lose their jobs. Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman Ray Lane was narrowly re-elected earlier this year with 58.9% of the vote, but he chose to give up the title, though not his board seat, soon after. In 2009, Bank of America Corp. Chairman and CEO Ken Lewis was effectively voted out of the chairmanship when investors voted to separate the two roles. He stepped down as CEO later that year.

Mr. Irani will remain a large shareholder at Occidental. He currently holds about 8.1 million shares worth $639 million, more than 1% of the shares outstanding of the company, putting him in the top 15 of shareholders. That stake could grow depending on what kind of a parting package he receives.

According to the company's most recent proxy statement, if Mr. Irani had retired from the company at the end of last year he could have received a package worth more than $20 million. This includes more than $15 million in company shares tied to his long-term incentive pay package, $5.7 million in life insurance coverage, ongoing medical and dental coverage for his wife and him, about $2.2 million annually to cover security services, tax preparation and financial planning services, club dues and travel benefits, and $800,000 for unused vacation time.

--Scott Thurm contributed to this article.

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Lukoil Executive: Russia Unlikely to Sell Large Rosneft Stake Soon

MOSCOW - The Russian government is unlikely to sell a large stake in state-controlled oil giant OAO Rosneft in the near future and won't give up its dominant position in the energy sector, the deputy chief executive of Russia's biggest non-state oil producer, OAO Lukoil Holdings, said Thursday.

"The state will continue to dominate in the sectors of the economy where it can," Leonid Fedun told the Sberbank Russia Forum 2013.

He added that the current situation in the oil sector reminds him of the mid-1990s, when there were only two sizeable oil companies in Russia: a state-owned one and Lukoil.

The past decade has witnessed the forced bankruptcy of what was once the largest oil producer, OAO Yukos; the takeover of OAO Sibneft by state-owned natural-gas firm OAO Gazprom; and, last month, the acquisition of TNK-BP by Rosneft.

Mr. Fedun said the state will dominate the market until 2018-2019, when it may be faced with falling oil output and will start seeking to improve the management of the companies.

Russian Economy Minister Andrei Belousov said in April the state may reduce its stake in Rosneft by roughly 19% from 69.5% now. Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin opposes the plan.

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Chesapeake Executive: No Target Date to Find Permanent CEO

Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s acting chief executive declined to say Monday when the company expects to have a permanent chief executive to succeed Aubrey McClendon.

Mr. McClendon officially stepped down as chief executive Monday. Chesapeake, the second-largest U.S. natural-gas producer after Exxon Mobil Corp., has been searching for a new chief executive since January after Mr. McClendon agreed to leave the company he helped found, citing "philosophical differences" with board members installed by activist shareholders.

Chesapeake had been close to landing a new chief executive before an agreement fell apart in late negotiations, a person familiar with the company's inner workings had said. Chesapeake then named Chief Operating Officer Steve Dixon as acting chief executive, working in tandem with Chief Financial Officer Domenic J. Dell'Osso and Chairman Archie W. Dunham in a newly established office of the chairman.

Speaking with investment analysts Monday morning, Mr. Dixon declined to say when Chesapeake might have a permanent chief executive in place. He also declined to address reports that Chesapeake's negotiations with an unnamed candidate fell apart last week.

"Those are speculations and we won't addresses that," he said.

The board's delay in announcing a new chief executive doesn't bode ill for the company, which will have to find someone with experience running a large oil and gas production business and who will agree to move to the company's Oklahoma City headquarters, said Morningstar analyst Mark Hanson.

"I don't think it's a negative for Chesapeake investors that a CEO hasn't been found," Mr. Hanson said. "Being prudent is a good thing."

Chesapeake holds drilling rights to some of the most prolific sources of oil and gas in the U.S. But it has been battered by natural-gas prices that last year sank to their lowest level in more than a decade, forcing the company to sell assets to pay for its operations.

Chesapeake has since resorted to selling assets to keep itself afloat. The company is now focusing on selling smaller packages of acres than on blockbuster, multimillion-dollar deals that had been announced under Mr. McClendon's stewardship.

Chesapeake has already announced $1.5 billion in asset sales this year and says more deals will follow as rising natural-gas prices have made its acres more attractive to potential buyers.

Natural-gas prices settled above $4 a million British thermal units last week, the first time they have done so since August 2011.

"There's certainly sentiment in the market that gas has bottomed and is on the way up," Mr. Dixon said Monday.

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Anadarko Executive Chairman James Hackett to Attend Harvard Divinity School

James Hackett, executive chairman and former chief executive of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC), plans to attend Harvard Divinity School later this year.

Last year, he handed over the CEO role to President Al Walker. Mr. Hackett will hold the title of executive chairman until May.

Mr. Hackett, 59, is credited by analysts with turning Anadarko into one of the best-performing independent oil-and-gas producers during his eight-year tenure as CEO, with stakes in a number of attractive onshore and offshore oil-and-gas fields around the world.

"Jim Hackett will be attending Harvard Divinity School to become better prepared to write, speak and teach about faith and leadership, which has been a long-held interest of Jim's and one of the key reasons he is retiring from Anadarko," Anadarko spokesman John Christiansen said.

The Anadarko executive chairman declined an interview through a spokesman.

Mr. Hackett and his wife, Maureen O'Gara Hackett, have been long-time supporters of The University of St. Thomas, a Catholic liberal-arts university in Houston, as well as a number of other institutions.

"He was at the helm during the company's transformation from one that had a history of falling short of production targets to one with a reputation for being one of the stronger explorers in the industry," said Phil Weiss, an analyst with Argus Research Co.

Mr. Hackett was formerly the chief operating officer of Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) following its merger with Ocean Energy, where he served as chairman, president and CEO. He has also worked at Duke Energy Corp. (DUK), NGC Corp., Burlington Resources and Amoco Oil Co.

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Anadarko Executive Chairman James Hackett to Attend Harvard Divinity School

James Hackett, executive chairman and former chief executive of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC), plans to attend Harvard Divinity School later this year.

Last year, he handed over the CEO role to President Al Walker. Mr. Hackett will hold the title of executive chairman until June.

Mr. Hackett, 59, is credited by analysts with turning Anadarko into one of the best-performing independent oil-and-gas producers during his eight-year tenure as CEO, with stakes in a number of attractive onshore and offshore oil-and-gas fields around the world.

"Jim Hackett will be attending Harvard Divinity School to become better prepared to write, speak and teach about faith and leadership, which has been a long-held interest of Jim's and one of the key reasons he is retiring from Anadarko," Anadarko spokesman John Christiansen said.

The Anadarko executive chairman declined an interview through a spokesman.

Mr. Hackett and his wife, Maureen O'Gara Hackett, have been long-time supporters of The University of St. Thomas, a Catholic liberal-arts university in Houston, as well as a number of other institutions.

"He was at the helm during the company's transformation from one that had a history of falling short of production targets to one with a reputation for being one of the stronger explorers in the industry," said Phil Weiss, an analyst with Argus Research Co.

Mr. Hackett was formerly the president and CEO of Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) following its merger with Ocean Energy, where he served as chairman, president and CEO. He has also worked at Duke Energy Corp. (DUK), NGC Corp., Burlington Resources and Amoco Oil Co.

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Raisama Slashes Salaries of Two Executive Directors to Reduce Costs

Raisama Energy disclosed Wednesday that it has reduced the salaries of two of its executive directors, Jeff Steketee and Jim Durrant, to save on overhead costs.

In a statement released, the company noted that both of the directors will draw $231,030 (AUD 225,000) per annum; their salaries will be increased to $256,700 (AUD 250,000) per annum upon settlement of a dispute with Blade Petroleum. Steketee was earning $325,000 (AUD 333,710) per annum, while Durrant was drawing a yearly salary of $308,040 (AUD 300,000).

Blade started court proceedings against Raisama last year, the former was seeking to terminate a farm-in agreement pertaining to the Cadlao oil project located in the Philippines inked in 2010, according to a statement from Raisama.

The statement also revealed that both of the directors will be required to give six months' notice period for their rolling employment term of one year. Under their previous contracts, the directors had to present 18 months' notice.

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Raisama Slashes Salaries of Two Executive Directors to Reduce Costs

Raisama Energy disclosed Wednesday that it has reduced the salaries of two of its executive directors, Jeff Steketee and Jim Durrant, to save on overhead costs.

In a statement released, the company noted that both of the directors will draw $231,030 (AUD 225,000) per annum; their salaries will be increased to $256,700 (AUD 250,000) per annum upon settlement of a dispute with Blade Petroleum. Steketee was earning $325,000 (AUD 333,710) per annum, while Durrant was drawing a yearly salary of $308,040 (AUD 300,000).

Blade started court proceedings against Raisama last year, the former was seeking to terminate a farm-in agreement pertaining to the Cadlao oil project located in the Philippines inked in 2010, according to a statement from Raisama.

The statement also revealed that both of the directors will be required to give six months' notice period for their rolling employment term of one year. Under their previous contracts, the directors had to present 18 months' notice.

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Raisama Slashes Salaries of Two Executive Directors to Reduce Costs

Raisama Energy disclosed Wednesday that it has reduced the salaries of two of its executive directors, Jeff Steketee and Jim Durrant, to save on overhead costs.

In a statement released, the company noted that both of the directors will draw $231,030 (AUD 225,000) per annum; their salaries will be increased to $256,700 (AUD 250,000) per annum upon settlement of a dispute with Blade Petroleum. Steketee was earning $325,000 (AUD 333,710) per annum, while Durrant was drawing a yearly salary of $308,040 (AUD 300,000).

Blade started court proceedings against Raisama last year, the former was seeking to terminate a farm-in agreement pertaining to the Cadlao oil project located in the Philippines inked in 2010, according to a statement from Raisama.

The statement also revealed that both of the directors will be required to give six months' notice period for their rolling employment term of one year. Under their previous contracts, the directors had to present 18 months' notice.

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BP Executive Director Steps Down

BP announced Thursday that Executive Director Byron Grote will retire from the company and step down from its board of directors on April 11.

BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley commented in a statement:

"Byron has played key roles at critical moments of the company's history, most notably in the integrations of Amoco and Arco, and more recently in guiding BP through the financial challenges following the incidents of April 2010. The company owes him a great debt of gratitude."

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BP Executive Director Steps Down

BP announced Thursday that Executive Director Byron Grote will retire from the company and step down from its board of directors on April 11.

BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley commented in a statement:

"Byron has played key roles at critical moments of the company's history, most notably in the integrations of Amoco and Arco, and more recently in guiding BP through the financial challenges following the incidents of April 2010. The company owes him a great debt of gratitude."

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