SEC Company Response from BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP (BSX) (CIK 0000885725) (BSX) — Nov 9, 2007
BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP (BSX) (CIK 0000885725)
Date: Nov. 9, 2007 · CIK: 0000885725 · Accession: 0001072613-07-002667
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 001-11083
Referenced dates: September 26, 2007
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CORRESP
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WWW.EXFILE.COM, INC. -- 888-775-4789 -- BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP. -- CORRESP
November
9, 2007
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Hanna
T.
Teshome
Special
Counsel
Division
of Corporation Finance
100
F
Street, N.E.
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Re:
Comment
letter dated September 26, 2007
Definitive
14A
Filed
on March 27, 2007
File
No. 001-11083
Dear
Ms.
Teshome:
This
letter is in response to your
letter dated September 26, 2007 regarding the above subject matter. For ease
of
reference, we have reproduced the Staff’s comments below with our responses, and
as appropriate, our additional or enhanced disclosure following each
response. Please be advised that, while the substance of the
disclosure will change for fiscal year 2007, we have supplemented the disclosure
from our 2006 proxy statement in this letter to demonstrate the spirit of how
we
propose to address your comments in future filings. Page references
below are to pages from our 2006 proxy statement and italicized portions
indicate new disclosure.
Executive
Compensation and Human Resources Committee, page 16
1.
You
state that you engaged Watson Wyatt and Towers Perrin to provide
compensation consulting services in 2006. Please disclose in greater
detail the nature and the scope of the consultants’ assignments and the
material elements of the instructions and directions given to the
consultants with respect to the performance of their duties under
the
engagement. Please refer to Item 407(e)(3)(iii) of Regulation
S-K.
We
will expand our disclosure on page 17 as follows and will cross reference
to this discussion in future Compensation Discussion &
Analysis:
1
The
Compensation Committee may also retain compensation consultants to
assist
it in evaluating executive compensation and may retain counsel,
accountants or other advisors, as it deems appropriate, at the Company’s
expense. The Compensation Committee engaged the compensation
consulting services of Watson Wyatt and Towers Perrin in
2006. Watson Wyatt provides the Compensation Committee and
management with (i) market data on Board of Directors
compensation, CEO compensation, and our annual performance incentive
plan,(ii) assistance with defining a peer group of companies,
and
(iii) proxy statement consulting
services.
The
Compensation Committee instructed Watson Wyatt to compare our Board
of
Directors and CEO compensation arrangements to those of our peer
companies
and to advise it of any recommended revisions to those
arrangements. With respect to CEO compensation, the
Compensation Committee instructed Watson Wyatt to conduct a detailed
analysis of CEO compensation relative to our initial 2006 peer group
with
respect to pay for performance, capital accumulation, value realized,
and
total remuneration. Details regarding the results of these
analyses are contained in our Compensation Discussion & Analysis on
page 20. In addition, the Compensation Committee asked Watson
Wyatt to help the Company define a peer group of companies and collect
relevant market data from those companies for base salary, incentive
bonus
and equity award referencing purposes. The Compensation Committee
also
instructed Watson Wyatt to analyze and make recommendations regarding
our
2006 annual performance incentive plan and, in doing so, to interview
our
executive officers, conduct market research and modeling, and benchmark
our plan against those of our peer companies. In addition, the
Compensation Committee asked Watson Wyatt to advise the Committee
regarding the SEC’s new executive compensation disclosure rules and to
work with the Committee and management in the preparation of our
2006
proxy statement disclosures regarding Board and executive
compensation. Watson Wyatt attended Compensation Committee
meetings throughout 2006.
Towers
Perrin provided the Compensation Committee and management with benefits
plan design consulting, director and executive compensation
consulting, market surveys and compensation communications
support. The Compensation Committee instructed Towers
Perrin to review our benefits plans and specific executive compensation
practices, conduct market surveys and executive interviews, compare
our
practices to market practices, and make recommendations regarding
recommended revisions to those practices. The Compensation
Committee also asked Towers Perrin to review the director compensation
practices of our peer companies to determine the relative competitiveness
of our outside director compensation program. In addition, the
Committee directed Towers Perrin to assist management in developing
communications materials regarding our benefits and compensation
arrangements. Towers Perrin attended Compensation Committee
meetings in the second quarter of
2006.
2
Compensation
Discussion and Analysis, page 19
Market
Referencing, page 19
2.
Your
disclosure indicated that you refer to “overall guidelines” to establish
individual compensation pay levels. Please provide disclosure that
not
only sets forth the amount of compensation awarded but also provides
substantive analysis and insight into how the committee determined
the
specific payout amounts. Please include in such disclosure a complete
analysis of the extent to which target or maximum levels of performance
goals were achieved and how achievement of the various corporate
financial, strategic and operational objectives and individual goals
resulted in specific payouts under each element. Also provide in
your
disclosure an analysis of the specific factors considered by the
committee
in ultimately approving particular pieces of each named executive
officer’s compensation package and disclose the reasons why the committee
believes that the amounts paid to each named executive officer are
appropriate in light of the various items it considered in making
specific
compensation decisions. Refer to Item 402(b)(1)(v) of Regulation
S-K.
We
respectfully direct the Staff to the discussion of how the Compensation
Committee determined the specific payout amounts for each element
of
compensation (base salary, performance incentives and annual equity
incentives) within each of those sections on pages 22 to 26. In
addition, to address this Comment 2 (as well as Comments 3 through
7), we
will expand our disclosure on those pages as
follows:
Base
Salary [page 22].
NEOs
(other than CEO). We establish base salaries for our executive
officers (other than the CEO) based upon the prior year PADR performance
reviews conducted by and the recommendations of the CEO presented
to the
Compensation Committee for approval or modification. To remain
competitive in the industry and to acknowledge individual officers’
contributions in light of our Project Horizon quality system improvement
initiative and business integration efforts, the Committee approved
competitive base salary increases for our NEOs for 2006, as recommended
by
the CEO, as follows:
Name
2005
Base Salary
2006
Base Salary
%
Increase
Effective
Date
Paul
A. LaViolette………
$600,000
$660,000
10.0%
12/27/05
Lawrence
C. Best……….
$625,000
$660,000
5.6%
12/27/05
Fredericus
A. Colen…….
$435,000
$465,000
6.9%
(1)
12/27/05
Fredericus
A. Colen…….
$465,000
$500,000
7.5%
(2)
5/8/06
Paul
W. Sandman………..
$435,000
$460,000
5.7%
12/27/05
_______________
(1)
Mr. Colen received a 6.9% year-end raise.
(2)
Mr. Colen received an additional 7.5% mid-year raise in connection
with
his assumption of additional responsibilities within our new cardiac
rhythm management division after our Guidant
acquisition.
3
Mr.
LaViolette’s increase was, in part, attributable to a base salary adjustment
based on a market comparison of his salary compared to the salaries of other
chief operating officers within our peer group and to Mr. LaViolette’s
increased responsibilities to advance our Project Horizon quality
initiative. Mr. Colen received a beginning of the year
increase in recognition of his anticipated involvement in the strategic
planning, due diligence and portfolio assessment with respect to the Guidant
acquisition and a mid-year increase in recognition of his promotion in May
2006 to assume additional operations and technology responsibilities within
our
new cardiac rhythm management division. Mr. Best’s salary
increase was attributable to his increased efforts towards new business
development initiatives, including technology acquisitions and investments,
to
enhance our product pipeline. Mr. Sandman’s salary increase was
attributable to his increased efforts towards managing the Company’s complex
litigation and consummating and integrating business
acquisitions. The range of salary increases for our NEOs (other
than the CEO) for 2006 from 2005 was 5.6% (in the case of Mr. Best) to
14.4% (in the case of Mr. Colen).
CEO. The
base salary of our CEO is established by the Compensation Committee upon the
recommendation of the Chairman of the Board and the Governance Committee of
the
Board of Directors after consideration of the CEO’s performance for the prior
year. As part of its determination, the Committee reviews an
assessment of the CEO’s actual performance versus objectives set for the CEO at
the beginning of the year, the Company’s actual performance during the year, as
well as market data provided by our compensation consultants. Our
CEO’s primary objectives for 2005 were to meet or exceed quarterly sales and
earnings targets, increase sales of our TAXUS® stent system in the U.S. and
abroad, focus on new product development initiatives and successfully integrate
several recently acquired companies into our operations. Our CEO’s actual
base salary increase for 2006 from 2005 was 3% and became effective in late
February 2006.
Name
2005
Base Salary
2006
Base Salary
%
Increase
Effective
Date
James
R. Tobin
$900,000
$927,000
3%
2/28/06
The
limited nature of Mr. Tobin’s increase was due to the Compensation Committee’s
determination that while the Company had successfully integrated several recent
acquisitions, acquired certain outside technology to fuel the Company’s product
development pipeline and launched TAXUS® Liberte™ in Europe, the
Company had only achieved quarterly sales and earnings targets in two of four
quarters in 2005, TAXUS® market share lagged expectations and the
launch of TAXUS® in Japan had been delayed.
Performance
Incentives [page 22].
Overview. Through
our Performance Incentive Plan for all salaried personnel, we seek to provide
pay for performance by linking incentive awards to both Company and individual
performance through a range of award opportunities which depend upon the level
of achievement of quarterly Company and individual objectives. The
Compensation Committee measures corporate achievement on a quarterly basis
4
against
sales, net income and quality objectives established prior to the beginning
of
the quarter to determine the size of a bonus pool. These goals
excluded legacy Guidant results in 2006 because the acquisition closed during
the second quarter of the year. The Compensation Committee also
measures individual achievement for an executive officer by comparing the actual
performance of the executive to the individual goals and objectives established
for the executive at the beginning of or during the year.
For
the
first half of the year, the relative weightings of our corporate objectives
were
50% of the award based on sales and 50% based on net income (excluding certain
charges). In the second half of 2006, we revised the weightings to
35% of the award based on sales, 35% based on net income (excluding certain
charges), and 30% based on quality, to further emphasize our commitment to
improving quality throughout the organization and the introduction of our new
quality policy. The Compensation Committee believes that
corporate sales and net income goals are appropriate to encourage our executives
to achieve superior financial performance for the Company with the goal of,
in
turn, generating shareholder value. The Committee believed that the
addition of a corporate quality goal in 2006 was appropriate in order to
emphasize the Company’s commitment to improving its quality systems, resolving