Jean Pierre Garnier, the head of Glaxo Smith Kline, will bow out of the pharmaceutical giant on a sour note after being granted options that will see him benefit from a potential £2.5 million bonus long after he has left the company.

It emerged today that JP Garnier, who has long had a fraught relationship with investors was granted share options in 2007, after he had said that he planned to retire in 2006.

These options will not pay out until the end of the 2009/10 financial year, even though any improvement in the share price will be on the watch of Andrew Witty, the current European head who will replace him as chief executive. Mr Garnier steps down from the helm of the company at next month's annual meeting.

JP Garnier ran into a battle with investors in 2002, shortly after he joined the pharmaceutical group, over an incentive scheme that could have paid out $18 million. The remuneration package so infuriated investors that they actually voted the remuneration report down at the company's annual meeting.

At the eleventh hour, the scheme was pulled to appease investors who were enraged by the size of the package given the company's poor share price performance since it was created in 2000.

A spokesman for GSK confirmed that Mr Garnier's options were granted in 2007 after he had said in 2006 that he planned to retire. No options were granted in 2008.

"JP will keep options and share awards granted up to the end of 2007, which are subject to performance criteria," the spokesman said.

The issue of golden goodbyes has been raised at several leading companies in recent weeks. Marks & Spencer is paying chairman Lord Terry Burns £450,000 for stepping aside to let Sir Stuart Rose become executive chairman, a move which has infuriated investors.

Ben Verwaayen, boss of BT, will also receive a one-off payment of £700,000 when he quits in June, on top of around £4 million in performance shares.

JP Garnier has built up a pension plot of £8.1 million and has around £6 million in Glaxo stock. He has already said that he will join the supervisory board of Dubai International Capital, the international investment arm of Dubai Holding.

A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers, which represents institutional investors, said that share options were usually awarded over three years so that directors were not motivated by short-termism.

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