18 March
Pittsburgh,
Dow Jones

PITTSBURGH (AP)- Alcoa Inc. (AA) Chief Executive Alain Belda received compensation valued at $25.65 million in 2007, a year in which the aluminum producer’s earnings climbed 14%, according to a regulatory filing Monday.

Belda’s 2007 compensation was more than twice the amount he received the previous year.
The Pittsburgh-based company paid the 64-year-old executive a salary of $1.46 million and a bonus of $1 million "to recognize his sustained performance and contribution to the company and its stakeholders in his nine years as CEO."

Belda also earned $2 million in rewards under a performance-based incentive program, according to the company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Belda received $652,103 in additional compensation that included $237,345 for split-dollar life insurance premiums, $110,247 for personal use of company aircraft and $24,196 in reimbursements for income taxes incurred by his wife’s travel expenses when she accompanied him to company functions.

The majority of Belda’s 2007 pay package consisted of stock and options valued by the company at $20.54 million on the date they were granted.

In 2006, Belda received compensation valued at $10.03 million, including a salary of $1.40 million, $2.4 million under a compensation plan and $597,419 in other compensation.
 
The Associated Press' calculations of total pay include executives' salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals listed by companies in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the SEC.

In January, Alcoa said profit for the fourth quarter of 2007 had risen 76% as the pending sale of its consumer and packaging businesses offset lower prices.

During the year, the company faced higher material, energy and currency exchange costs but continued to invest in its largest capital improvement program to date, Belda said at the time.

Alcoa’s 2007 annual profit grew 14%, to $2.56 billion from $2.25 billion in 2006, thanks to strong global demand for aluminum. Belda said the company expected a similar expansion in 2008, with growth concentrated in developing countries such as China and India, while North America enters a cyclical decline and Europe shows only modest growth.

Shares of Alcoa fell $1.29, or about 3%, to close at $37.10 on Monday.