Having a top executive abruptly resign is never good, as company prefer orderly transitions to keep markets calm, but Molson Coors (NYSE: TAP) just announced its CFO has exited the position, effective immediately, after just six months on the job.Unfortunately, it was likely a quit or be fired situation because the brewer says it was due to “matters regarding personal conduct.” At least it had nothing to do with Molson’s operations or financial statements.
Mauricio Restrepo was appointed to the top accounting job in March, though he officially took up the position in May, coming over from Beam Suntory. Prior to that, he had held senior financial positions at SABMiller. Open his hiring, he was lauded for “an impressive track record in the alcohol beverage industry,” and further described as “the ideal candidate to help Molson Coors grow and deliver shareholder value.”
He replaced Gavin Hattersley, who became CEO of MillerCoors, which Molson fully acquired as part of the Anheuser-Busch InBev acquisition of Miller. A-B InBev was required to divest its stake in the joint venture to help assuage anticompetitiveness concerns about the merger.
While the nature of his transgression wasn’t revealed, Molson Coors said in a separate separation agreement filing that upon learning “of certain personal conduct” by Restrepo that violated company policy, he agreed to resign his position and reimburse the brewer all the money it spent hiring him, including amounts paid to him or to Beam Suntory as a sign-on bonus and relocation expenses. While the total amount of the clawback could be as much as $1.2 million, Molson estimates the value currently as more than $776,000.
Replacing Restrepo will be Tracey Joubert, previously the CFO and executive VP at MillerCoors.
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Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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