WALTHAM, MA– Sri Lankan-born Alere CEO Namal Nawana would receive about $11.1 million in one-time payouts after the Alere’s acquisition id completed by Abbott Laboratories, according to media reports. Nawana took over as CEO when Alere founder and former CEO Ron Zwanzger resigned in 2014.
Quoting financial filings, Boston Business Journal reported that Nawana would receive about $11.1 million in one-time payouts, which includes a continuation of his salary for 18 months, totaling $1.3 million; a $201,000 cash award; the acceleration of vesting of what the company then estimated to be $7.9 million in restricted stock and options; and another $1.65 million in gross-up payments to help cover his tax hit form the change-in-control payout.
Nawana also holds 81,000 shares of company stock worth around $4.5 million, according to Bloomberg quoted by Boston Business Journal.
Nawana has been with the company since 2012, originally as chief operating officer. His assumption of the CEO role came after a months-long battle between the company’s former management and one of its investors, Coppersmith Capital, which had been advocating for the company to sell off less profitable parts of the business and align itself for a sale, Boston Business Journal said.
Four other officers — CFO David Teitel, and Daniella Cramp, Sanjay Malkani and Avi Pelossof, the heads of Alere’s cardiometabolic, toxicology and infectious disease units — also stand to receive change-in-control payments and benefits valued between $2.3 million and $3.6 million, according to Boston Business Journal.
Abbott and Alere this week announced a definitive agreement for Abbott to acquire Alere, for $5.8 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Abbott will pay $56 per common share at a total expected equity value of $5.8 billion. Once the transaction is completed, Abbott will become the leading diagnostics provider of point of care testing. Abbott’s total diagnostics sales will exceed $7 billion after the close.
Nawana was born in Sri Lanka and raised in Australia. He holds an Honors degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters of Medical Science degree from the University of Adelaide in Australia and an MBA from the Henley Business School in the United Kingdom.
Before joining Alere, Nawana held various global leadership roles during his 15-year tenure at Johnson & Johnson. He most recently served as Worldwide President of DePuy Synthes Spine, a Johnson & Johnson company. Prior to that role, Nawana held general management positions spanning the globe, including Area Vice President for Johnson & Johnson Medical in Australia and New Zealand and Chairman of the DePuy Asia Pacific Franchise Council.
