Evercore Shareholders Reject Increasing Stock Compensation Plan

Shareholders of Evercore Partners EVR have voted against a proposal that would have increased the size of the employee stock compensation plan by a vote of 57% to 43% for the measure. The bank allocated 20 million shares back in 2006 for compensation, and now only 6 million remain. The board had been hoping to increase the plan by 11 million shares, or 55%.

Shareholders came out in force, casting more than 36 million votes on the proposed measure. The vote is binding, meaning that Evercore will have to make due with the 6 million shares left, which amounts to about $14.25 million.

Larger banks have not been exempt from shareholder backlash, with banks such as UBS UBS unable to secure the necessary majority to issue new shares for employee options last month. Citigroup C investors also recently shot down a compensation plan for CEO Vikram Pandit.

Evercore has been growing and gaining share from the bulge-bracket investment banks and was looking to expand its compensation program to attract more senior-level bankers. Evercore shares are down about 1% this morning to $23.79 and financials as a whole XLF are up slightly at $13.94.