Weatherford has appointed Girish Saligram as its new CEO, effective October 12, 2020. He replaces Mark McCollum, who left abruptly in June.
Mr Saligram is currently the COO at Exterran Corporation, a Houston-based public company. Prior to joining Exterran in 2016, he spent 20 years at GE. His last role there was as General Manager, Downstream Products and Services.
Compensation package
Mr Saligram will receive;
- a base salary of $825,000 (a $200,000 raise on his role at Exterran).
- a long-term cash incentive award of $3.5 million that will vest over 3 years.
- a sign-on cash bonus of $400,000
- $400,000 in restricted stock units that will vest over 3 years
- $400,000 in performance stock units that will vest, depending on the share price.
In the event of a termination without cause, Mr Saligram will receive severance of one times base salary and target bonus (125% of base salary). If the termination is the result of a change of control, he will receive two times base and target bonus.
Once Mr Saligram starts, Karl Blanchard, the current interim CEO, will return to his former role of COO. Keith Jennings, the new CFO, started at the beginning of September.
Post-bankruptcy woes
Weatherford filed for bankruptcy in July 2019 and emerged on December 13, 2019. Debt was reduced from $8.0 billion to $2.2 billion with the bondholders owning 94% of the equity of the newly reorganized company.
At the end of August, the company issued $500 million in new notes due 2024 at 8.75% interest. The company used those proceeds to pay off a US-based credit agreement that was only entered into in December 2019. Due to the pandemic, the company faced a declining collateral base but Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank, the agents for the credit facility, refused to discuss any material covenant modifications.
SEC filing – Weatherford CEO appointment