CPKC's Creel sees his compensation jump to $20 million after railway merger

Canadian Pacific Railway trains sit at the main CP Rail train yard in Toronto on Monday, March 21, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

The head of Canada's second-biggest railway enjoyed a big jump in compensation after a historic year for the company as it integrated a major acquisition.

Keith Creel, CEO of Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd., took in a total compensation boost of 38 per cent that reached $20.1 million last year, company financial filings show.

CPKC's five top officers, including Creel, earned $63.5 million overall in 2023 compared with less than half that amount the previous year.

The pay bump for the entire C-suite stemmed largely from share-based awards and cash bonuses after Calgary-based Canadian Pacific merged its operations last April with Kansas City Southern.

The continent's two smallest Class 1 railways joined forces after CP acquired KCS for US$31 billion in December 2021. The move marked the continent’s first big rail merger in more than two decades, making the joint railway network the only one to stretch from Canada through the United States to Mexico.

A board committee opted to dole out a one-time "synergy" award in the form of performance shares, a type of stock compensation given in this case to senior executives excluding the CEO if the company meets certain performance criteria — around free cash flow and shareholder returns, for example.

The one-time equity allocation accounted for most of the rise in share-based awards, which added up to $36 million for the firm's five highest-ranking executives. The awards, in turn, accounted for the vast majority of their overall compensation increase.

A jump of more than 460 per cent to $9 million in annual bonuses — including a more than 500 per cent leap to $3.8 million in cash for the CEO — made up much of the rest.

Asked about compensation, CPKC pointed back to its filings.

The synergy awards aimed to keep senior managers "aligned and focused on delivering what we said we would do," board member Matthew Paull, who chaired the compensation committee, wrote in the document prepared for the railway operator's shareholders.

"2023 was a transformative year for CPKC with the completion of the KCS acquisition and the delivery of (adjusted earnings) synergies is a key component of the merger value proposition supported by shareholders and regulators," the company said in filings submitted to financial regulators Thursday.

At rival Canadian National Railway Co., compensation moved in the other direction last year. Its six senior executives saw their total compensation decrease three per cent to $29.6 million, largely due to lower bonuses after the Montreal-based company fell short of performance targets.

Chief executive Tracy Robinson's compensation nudged up by two per cent to $14.0 million, mainly because she joined as CEO two months into 2022 and was not paid for a full year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:CP, TSX:CNR)