An activist hedge fund's nominees to the Hess Corp ( id="symbol_HES.N_0">HES.N) board of directors said they were waiving their right to receive a special pay package from the fund if the oil and gas company outperforms its peers under their watch.
_0">Hess shareholders are set to vote on the board nominees later this week.
Hess and the hedge fund, Elliott Management, have been working hard to lobby investors to back their nominees. Hess said last week that it would separate the posts of chairman and chief executive, stripping longtime CEO John Hess of his chairmanship.
If elected, the Elliott nominees would have been eligible to receive $30,000 from the hedge fund for every percentage point that Hess outperformed its peers over their first term as directors.
In a letter to shareholders, the five Elliott nominees called the attention paid to their pay arrangements a distraction.
"While each of us believes that these arrangements are appropriate and consistent with the performance of our duties as independent directors, each of us has made the decision to waive our right to receive these payments from Elliott," they said in the letter.
(Reporting By Michael Erman; editing by John Wallace)