A&P Unveils Executive Payouts

As it moves to auction off 128 stores, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (A&P) has revealed which executives received large payments as the Montvale, N.J.-based grocery chain headed toward bankruptcy, according to a published report.

A&P Chairman Greg Mays received $4.6 million in consulting fees and other payments in the year before the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, including a $2.5 million payment from a trust A&P created for its top executives, the Bergen County Record in New Jersey reported.

Other executives to receive money included CEO Paul Hertz (a $1.5 million trust payment and a $225,000 bonus); Chief Administrative Officer Christopher McGarry ($2.3 million, including a $1.5 million trust payment and a $225,000 bonus); SVP/CFO Tim Carnahan ($250,000 trust payment); Chief Strategy Officer Nirup Krishnamurthy ($250,000); and Chief Merchandising Officer Eric Kanterman (a $100,000 bonus in May, and a $400,000 retention payment two days before A&P filed for bankruptcy).

The identities of the executives and the details of their payouts were included in a revised financial statement submitted to the bankruptcy court, which also showed that the grocer made $6 million in trust payments to executives and officers in April, just two and a half months before it filed for bankruptcy.

While the large payments have upset unionized employees, who accepted wage and benefit cuts to help A&P emerge from an earlier bankruptcy, the company has countered that it needed to retain top executives to improve the chances of selling most of its stores to other supermarket operators, thereby saving employees’ jobs.

Under bankruptcy law, A&P must itemize payments made to corporate executives during the year before its Chapter 11 filing.

As PG previously reported, A&P paid $9.4 million in bonuses and other extra payments to eight unidentified business executives in the 12 months before it declared bankruptcy this past July.