Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

STOCK COMPENSATION PLANS

v3.20.1
STOCK COMPENSATION PLANS
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]  
Stock Compensation Plans
The Compensation Committee approved grants effective as of March 13, 2020 under the A&R 2015 Equity Plan to certain officers and employees for the 2020 to 2022 performance period. Shares granted under the awards consisted of 0.9 million restricted stock units and 0.9 million performance shares.
Restricted stock units granted during 2020 are subject to continued employment, are retention based and are payable in common shares. The outstanding restricted stock units that were granted in 2020 cliff vest on December 31, 2022. The grant date fair value of restricted stock units granted in 2020 was $4.87 per share.
Performance shares are subject to continued employment, and each performance share, if earned, entitles the holder to be paid out in common shares. Performance is measured on the basis of relative TSR for the period of January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022 and measured against the constituents of the SPDR S&P Metals and Mining ETF Index at the beginning of the relevant performance period. The final payouts for the outstanding performance period grants will vary from zero to 200% of the original grant depending on whether and to what extent the Company achieves certain objectives and performance goals as established by the Compensation Committee.
The fair value of each performance share grant is estimated on the date of grant using a Monte Carlo simulation to forecast relative TSR performance. A correlation matrix of historical and projected share prices was developed for both the Company and our predetermined peer group of mining and metals companies. The fair value assumes that the objective will be achieved. The expected term of the grant represents the time from the grant date to the end of the service period. We estimate the volatility of our common shares and that of the peer group using daily price intervals for all companies. The risk-free interest rate is the rate at the grant date on zero-coupon government bonds with a term commensurate with the remaining life of the performance period.
The following assumptions were utilized to estimate the fair value for the 2020 performance share grant under the A&R 2015 Equity Plan:
Grant Date
 
Grant Date Market Price
 
Average Expected Term (Years)
 
Expected Volatility
 
Risk-Free Interest Rate
 
Dividend Yield
 
Fair Value
 
Fair Value (Percent of Grant Date Market Price)
March 13, 2020
 
$
4.87

 
2.8
 
53.6%
 
0.56%
 
—%
 
$
6.93

 
142.30%

AK Steel Replacement Awards
On March 13, 2020, we converted outstanding AK Steel stock-based incentive awards to AK Steel employees at a 0.400 rate of exchange. The converted stock-based incentive awards include 2.0 million stock options, 1.0 million long-term performance plan awards, 0.5 million performance shares, 0.4 million restricted stock awards and 0.3 million restricted stock units. The weighted average vesting period remaining for these awards was 1.9 years.
We valued the restricted stock awards, restricted stock units and the long-term performance plan awards at $4.87 per share using the closing price of our common shares on March 13, 2020. The performance shares were fair valued at a weighted-average price of $4.06 per share using a Monte Carlo simulation similar to past awards. The stock options were fair valued at a weighted-average price of $0.51 per share of granted options using a Black-Scholes option valuation model. The stock option exercise price was determined by using the same conversion ratio and the options have expirations ranging from 0.2 to 9.9 years. Certain awards are subject to accelerated vesting based on qualifying termination events.