Countrywide backs off new pay plan for directors

(Adds details on new incentive plan, background)

Aug 20 (Reuters) - Countrywide (Frankfurt: A1H56R - news) has abandoned plans to revamp its incentive package for directors after meetings with top investors aimed at propping up the company with 140 million pounds in new equity.

The British real estate agent lost two thirds of its market value on Aug. 2 when it announced a deeply discounted share offer and said auditors had warned it faced a struggle to stay in business.

The share issue still has to go to a shareholders meeting later this month which was also due to vote on a new incentive package for management which would reward them for a 15 percent compound recovery in market capitalisation over the next three years.

Instead, Countrywide said that after meetings with shareholders, the company would stick with its existing remuneration policy and long-term incentive arrangements as approved by shareholders at last year's AGM.

Sky News also reported last Thursday that leading City institutions were planning to oppose the new incentive scheme.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in the company rose 7 percent in extremely thin early trading. (Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham)