Towergate staff in £30m incentive scheme deal

Towergate has entered its staff into an incentive scheme worth more than £30m.

One part of the scheme is worth £30.4m and Towergate has already made two payments to staff, with a final tranche due later this year, The Telegraph reports.

Under Towergate’s old reward scheme employees were given a share of proceeds if the firm was sold or joined the stock market.

But after Towergate was taken over by unsecured creditors, the old equity became worthless, and the scheme written down to zero.

In February 2015 Towergate’s unsecured creditors led by the then JP Morgan-owned investment firm Highbridge Principal Strategies, now HPS, struck a deal to hand control of the troubled broker to its unsecured debt-holders.

Towergate and its new owners then set up another programme to try to retain staff during the restructuring.

The £30.4m was a one-off long term incentive plan to retain key people at the time of the restructuring.

The scheme has previously been announced in Towergate’s bondholders report for the first half of 2015.

Since the restructuring, Towergate has introduced a foundation bonus scheme for all staff, with payments made according to their individual and group performance.