Companies could move headquarters if France limits executive pay -Total CEO

PARIS, May 18 (Reuters) - Firms could move their headquarters out of France if the government pursues legislation to limit the remuneration of company executives, the CEO of oil major Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) said on Wednesday.

Patrick Pouyanne told a French Senate commission that the question of salaries for executives should be left to company general assemblies and boards, adding that executives must listen when it becomes contentious.

French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron has threatened to legislate on executive pay following an outcry over what some shareholders and workers consider to be excessive remuneration packages attributed to some company heads in France.

Macron waded into the debate this month after shareholders revolted over a 7.2 million euro ($8.12 million) 2015 payout for Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of French carmaker Renault (Swiss: RNO.SW - news) , in which the state is a major shareholder.

"We don't need a law to impose it on us because it will become a slippery slope," Pouyanne said in answer to questions from senators.

"I am convinced that for some of my colleagues, their headquarters will leave France if laws like that are passed," Pouyanne said. "This is not a threat, it's just what will happen, and I don't want Total's HQ to move outside France."

Pouyanne said everyone must use common sense and that the issue was not unique to France because it was also being debated in Britain and the United States.

"My colleague at BP saw his wages increased by 20 percent, but this was rejected at the annual general meeting," he said.

BP's shareholders voted against Chief Executive Bob Dudley's $20 million pay deal for 2015, after the company recorded a record annual loss and cut 5,000 jobs.

Pouyanne said he was the lowest-paid CEO among the oil majors, with a fixed salary of about 1.4 million euros ($1.58 million). Total shareholders will vote at a May 24 annual meeting on his overall remuneration package of about 4.7 million for 2015.

He said his colleagues at other major oil groups, such as Exxon, earned ""20 to 25 million".

"I can tell you that in the European and global market, compared with my American and Anglo-Saxon colleagues, they see me as small fry." ($1 = 0.8868 euros) (Reporting by Bate Felix and Benjamin Mallet; Editing by Mark Heinrich)