Swainson has $14M reasons to exit smiling

John Swainson may be leaving CA Inc. with a smile for his success in turning around a troubled company, but there may be another reason he's smiling as well: The soon-to-be ex-chief executive will walk away with a retirement package of about $14 million, company documents show.

The 55-year-old Swainson, who announced Tuesday that he will retire effective Dec. 31, is entitled via his employment contract to a package that includes salary, bonus and stock, company officials said.

Gary Lutin, an investment banker who conducts a public CA shareholder forum, said Swainson's announcement seemed sudden and may signal unhappiness on the part of CA's board that the company has not been sold. Speculation has been that Islandia-based CA has been looking for a buyer, and Swainson was hired to find one. He has been at CA for nearly five years.

"I think we can assume a 55-year-old CEO wouldn't be suddenly retiring if he thought there was a reasonable chance of making an extra few million from selling the company anytime soon, and the board wouldn't be letting him retire if they thought there was any chance," Lutin said.

CA spokesman Dan Kaferle said the company would not comment on the timing of the announcement. But, he said, a transition will be "orderly and smooth."

CA has engaged "a number" of search firms and is looking inside and outside the company, Kaferle said. "We're not limiting our search to just the tech industry," he added.
 

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