NOL PAYS JACOBS $2.5-MILLION CONTRACT SEVERANCE

NOL PAYS JACOBS $2.5-MILLION CONTRACT SEVERANCE    Flemming Jacobs, the former chief executive officer of Neptune Orient Lines and APL Liner, will receive a S$4.3 million ($2.5 million) compensation from his former employer.
   The Singapore-based shipping and logistics group said that, following his departure as group president and CEO, Jacobs will be compensated in accordance with the terms of his contract for an early departure. His contract, due to last until mid-2004, was terminated by NOL earlier this month.
   “Termination and related expenses, including the value of share options calculated using the Black-Scholes model, amount to around S$4.3 million,” Neptune Orient Lines said in a statement.
   Neptune Orient Lines, listed on the Singapore stock exchange, said that it published this information “to correct widely reported speculation regarding compensation” for Jacobs.
   Jacobs, a former partner of Denmark’s A.P. Moller and one-time head of Maersk Line, joined Neptune Orient Lines in June 1999 to turn around the group. However, Neptune Orient Lines posted a net deficit of $151 million for the first half of 2001, its worst since at least 1998.