BEAR BIG’S GOOD DEAL

Former Bear Stearns President Warren Spector’s exit package insures that the man charged with the oversight of two internal hedge funds that spectacularly blew up this summer won’t want for money, or more importantly, legal advice.

The Post broke the story of Spector’s firing in August after a series of upper-management miscues in the wake of the collapse of two internal hedge funds.

Spector, long seen by firm insiders and investors alike as the presumptive heir to Bear’s current Chief Executive Jimmy Cayne, failed to manage the massively levered fund’s risk profile and then was unable to calm the funds’ creditors, costing the firm hundreds of millions of dollars.

Spector’s termination agreement allows him to keep his vested stock position, which Bear estimated to be worth just under $23 million in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. He will also keep his $250,000 salary through the end of the year, a retirement plan worth about $207,000 and an “executive secretary” through December.

Given the devastation in Bear’s stock price this year, the firm said the value of Spector’s option position was zero. Last year, according to its proxy, Spector was awarded 33,938 options. Since 2004, he has been awarded 247,372 options.

His 519,000-share stake was worth about $47.4 million, based on yesterday’s closing price of $91.28.

Spector will also be guaranteed a pro-rated bonus, according to the filing, although it is certain to be sharply lower than last year’s $34 million.

Bear Stearns will pick up his legal fees, both for negotiating his exit package and the shareholder suits that are befalling the firm in the wake of the funds’ collapse. [email protected]