GTAT adds shares to exec bonus pool

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. will be able to award its top executives with as much as $93 million in stock — and they may be able to receive some of that stock three months earlier, thanks to a change in the company’s fiscal year.According to some changes disclosed April 20 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Merrimack-based maker of equipment and materials to make solar cells and LED lighting, will be registering some 12.5 million shares under its 2011 equity incentive plan. That includes 5.4 million shares previously registered under the 2008 plan, but not yet given away.These shares would be offered a maximum price of $7.50 a share (the company’s shares closed Monday at $7.17) for an aggregate of nearly $93.7 million. Some of that stock could presumably be awarded after fiscal 2012 ended, which was March 31.GTAT has yet to release its annual filing or its proxy, so it’s not known what those awards are.On April 16, the company decided to change its fiscal year to coincide with the calendar year. That will mean that the company will add a transition period from April 1, 2012, to Dec. 31, 2012, when it presumably can hand out more stock awards, though probably not as much as it would in a full year.Fiscal 2013 will then begin on Jan. 1, 2013, and end on Dec. 31, 2013.No reason was given for the change. – BOB SANDERS/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW