GM paid $11.1 million to CEO Akerson in 2012 - source

By Deepa Seetharaman

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co gave Chief Executive Dan Akerson an $11.1 million pay package last year, a GM official familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, after the CEO's salary came under scrutiny this week.

The figure reflects $2 million in restricted stock units that Akerson received in 2011, but only vested in 2012, according to the GM official, who requested anonymity.

Akerson's compensation last year also includes $1.7 million in cash, $7.3 million in stock and other incentives.

Several media outlets reported late Monday that GM asked U.S. officials to allow for a pay increase of more than 20 percent for Akerson in 2013.

Compensation of GM executives is governed by a special paymaster from the U.S. government as part of provisions put in place after GM's U.S.-funded bankruptcy restructuring in 2009.

GM issued a statement on Tuesday denying the request for the 2013 pay bump. The U.S. automaker said its compensation request was misinterpreted for political gain before a congressional hearing Tuesday on executive pay at companies that received federal bailouts.

The $11.1 million figure was included in GM's compensation request, but it referred to Akerson's 2012 pay package and was not a request for 2013, the GM official said.

The largest U.S. automaker has set a $9 million target for Akerson's compensation. In 2011, Akerson's pay came to $7.7 million, including $1.7 million cash and $5.3 million in stock.

GM has repaid about $29 billion of the $50 billion that the U.S. government poured into GM to keep the automaker afloat in 2009. In December, Treasury said it would sell 200 million shares back to GM for $5.5 billion and sell its remaining holdings.

After the $5.5 billion buy back, the U.S. Treasury's holding in GM was whittled down to 19 percent.

(Reporting By Deepa Seetharaman; editing by Andrew Hay)