Exhibit 10.3
THE CHUBB CORPORATION
LONG-TERM STOCK
INCENTIVE PLAN (2004)
Performance Share Award
Agreement
This PERFORMANCE SHARE AWARD
AGREEMENT, dated as of March 3, 2005, is by and between The
Chubb Corporation (the “ Corporation ”) and
[ ]
(the “ Participant ”), pursuant to The Chubb
Corporation Long-Term Stock Incentive Plan (2004) (the “
Plan ”). Capitalized terms that are not defined
herein shall have the same meanings given to such terms in the
Plan. If any provision of this Agreement conflicts with any
provision of the Plan (as either may be interpreted from time to
time by the Committee), the Plan shall control.
WHEREAS, pursuant to the provisions of the Plan, the
Committee has authorized the grant to the Participant of
Performance Shares in accordance with the terms and conditions of
this Agreement; and
WHEREAS, the Participant and the Corporation desire to
enter into this Agreement to evidence and confirm the grant of such
Performance Shares on the terms and conditions set forth
herein.
NOW THEREFORE,
the Participant and the Corporation
agree as follows:
1.
Grant of
Performance Shares . Pursuant to the
provisions of the Plan, the Corporation on the date set forth above
(the “ Grant Date ”) has granted and hereby
evidences the grant to the Participant, subject to the terms and
conditions set forth herein and in the Plan, of an Award of
[ ]
Performance Shares (the “ Award ”).
2.
Payment of
Earned Performance Shares .
(a)
Settlement of
Performance Shares . Subject to the
provisions of this Section 2, Section 4 and
Section 5, the Payment Value of each Performance Share covered
by the Award which the Committee determines, in writing, to be
earned pursuant to Section 3 shall be paid by the Corporation
on a date (the “vesting date”) as soon as
administratively practicable after (but no later than 2½
months after the calendar year end coincident with) the end of the
Performance Cycle described in Section 3(a). Payments
hereunder shall be made in cash, shares of Stock, or a combination
thereof, as determined by the Committee in its sole
discretion. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, the vesting
date shall be the last day of the Performance Cycle if (i) the
Participant experiences a Qualified Termination of Employment on or
after December 31, 2005 or (ii) the Committee determines, in
its discretion, pursuant to Section 4(b), that the Participant
will not
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forfeit his or her rights to
Performance Shares upon his or her termination of employment for
other reasons; in either case, provided the Committee determines,
in writing, that Performance Shares are to be awarded
hereunder.
(b)
Voluntary
Deferral. Notwithstanding the
provisions of Section 2(a), the Participant may elect, by
election filed with the Corporation under its Key Employee Deferred
Compensation Plan (2005) (or any successor plan or program), and on
a form acceptable to the Committee, not later than June 30,
2007 and subject to such terms and conditions as the Committee may
specify, to have any payment that may become due in respect of
Performance Shares covered by the Award deferred until such later
time as shall be specified in such election (or, if applicable, the
date determined pursuant to Section 2(c)).
(c)
Mandatory
Deferral of Payment of Earned Performance Shares
.
Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 2(a) or 2(b) to
the contrary (unless the payment date elected pursuant to
Section 2(b) is later than the payment date specified herein,
in which case Section 2(b) shall control), if the
Corporation’s Ending Average Value is less than the
Corporation’s Beginning Average Value (as such terms are
defined in Section 3(c)), no settlement shall be made in
respect of any Performance Shares earned in accordance with
Section 3 until the earlier of ( i ) the first date on
or before March 10, 2009 on which the average of the averages
of the highest and lowest sales prices of the Stock reported for
consolidated trading of issues listed on the New York Stock
Exchange for the 15 trading days prior to such date exceeds the
Beginning Average Value and ( ii ) the first date on which
the Participant has both reached age 60 and terminated employment
with the Corporation and all other members of the
Corporation’s controlled group of entities. Once either
of the conditions described in the immediately preceding sentence
has been satisfied, settlement shall occur as soon as practicable
thereafter (and in the case of condition ( i ), not later
than March 15, 2009) in cash, shares of Stock or a combination
thereof, as determined by the Committee in its sole
discretion. If the Participant experiences a Qualified
Termination of Employment on or after December 31, 2005, or if
the Committee determines, in its discretion pursuant to
Section 4(b), that the Participant will not forfeit his or her
rights to Performance Shares upon his or her termination of
employment for other reasons, settlement shall not occur until the
first date on which the Participant has attained age 60 (or, in the
case of the Participant’s death, would have attained age
60). If a Participant terminates employment after reaching
age 60, is a “specified employee” (as that term is
defined in Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Code) at the time
he or she terminates employment, and is scheduled to have his or
her Performance Shares settled pursuant to condition (ii), no
settlement shall be made until at least six months after such
termination of employment, or the Participant’s death, if
earlier.
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3.
Vesting
Criteria Applicable to Performance Shares.
(a)
Performance
Cycle . The Performance Cycle
for this Award shall commence on May 1, 2005, and shall end on
December 31, 2007.
(b)
Performance
Goal . The Performance Goal
for the Performance Cycle is the total return per share of Stock to
the Corporation’s shareholders, inclusive of dividends paid
(regardless of whether paid in cash or property, which dividends
shall be deemed reinvested in Stock), during the Performance Cycle
in comparison to the total return per share of stock, inclusive of
dividends paid (regardless of whether paid in cash or property,
which dividends shall be deemed reinvested in stock), achieved by
the companies ( i ) which are in the Standard & Poors
500 Index (the “ S&P 500 ”) on the date the
Performance Cycle begins and ( ii ) which continue to file
public reports pursuant to the Act for the entirety of the
Performance Cycle (such companies, the “ Comparison
Companies ”). For the avoidance of doubt, a company
included in the S&P 500 on the date the Performance Cycle
commences that is not included in the S&P 500 at the conclusion
of the Performance Cycle will be a Comparison Company as long as it
files public reports pursuant to the Act for the entire Performance
Cycle (and any company first included in the S&P 500 after the
start of the Performance Cycle would not be a Comparison
Company).
(c)
Comparison of
Total Shareholder Return . Except as provided in
Section 5, the Performance Shares covered by the Award shall
be deemed earned based on where the Corporation’s total
shareholder return during the Performance Cycle ranks in relation
to the total shareholder returns of the Comparison Companies during
such period. For purposes of calculating the total
shareholder return of the Corporation and the Comparison Companies
during the Performance Cycle, the value of each such
company’s stock at the beginning and end of the Performance
Cycle shall be established based on the average of the averages of
the high and low trading prices of the applicable stock on the
principal exchange on which the stock trades for the 15 trading
days occurring immediately prior to the beginning or end of the
Performance Cycle, as the case may be. Such averages for each
such company (including the Corporation) shall be referred to
herein as the “ Beginning Average Value ” and
the “ Ending Average Value .” As soon as
practicable after the completion of the Performance Cycle, the
total shareholder returns of the Comparison Companies will be
calculated and ranked from highest to lowest. The
Corporation’s total shareholder return will then be ranked in
terms of which percentile it would have placed in among the
Comparison Companies. In calculating the total shareholder
return with respect to either the Corporation or any of the
Comparison Companies, the Committee shall make or shall cause to be
made such appropriate adjustments to the calculation of total
shareholder return for such entity (including, without
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limitation, adjusting the Beginning
Average Value) as shall be necessary or appropriate to avoid an
artificial increase or decrease in such return as a result of a
stock split (including a reverse stock split), recapitalization or
other similar event affecting the capital structure of such entity
that does not involve the issuance of the entity’s securities
in exchange for money, property or other consideration.
(d)
Percentage of
Performance Shares Earned. The extent to which
Performance Shares shall become earned on the vesting date
described in Section 2(a) shall be determined according to the
following schedule:
|
Relative
Performance
Level Percentile
|
|
Percent of
Performance
Shares Earned
|
|
|
85 th or higher
|
|
200
|
%
|
|
50 th
|
|
100
|
%
|
|
25 th
|
|
50
|
%
|
|
Under 25 th
|
|
0
|
%
|
To the extent
that the Corporation’s total shareholder return ranks in a
percentile between the 25 th and the 50 th
percentile, or between the 50 th and the 85
th percentile, of comparative performance, then the
number of Performance Shares earned on the vesting date
sh
|