EDP’s Chinese shareholder seeks an alternative for Mexia
China Three Gorges wants to find someone else to replace António Mexia as the leader of EDP by the end of this year, in order to avoid prolonging uncertainty within the company.
China Three Gorges, EDP’s largest shareholder, does not want to keep António Mexia as CEO of the electricity company EDP and is already looking for someone else to replace him.
The news was disclosed by Portuguese weekly newspaper Expresso, stating that Francisco Lacerda, current CEO of CTT, is one of the names on the table as a replacement for Mexia. Expresso also says that EDP’s CEO, who has been the company’s leader for twelve years, does not want to leave office. In fact, last month, he re-emphasized his availability to continue heading EDP.
The Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Negócios stated that Diogo Lacerda Machado, TAP’s non-executive director, is also another name on the table for EDP. However, Diogo Lacerda Machado told ECO that he has no profile to be a CEO. But when asked if he could be appointed as chairman, the lawyer declined commenting.
I have no profile to be a CEO.
China Three Gorges’ goal is to find an alternative by the end of 2017 — although EDP’s next general shareholders assembly will only occur on April of 2018 –, in order to avoid prolonging uncertainty in the company.
The Chinese shareholder’s dissatisfaction comes from the past months’ controversy: António Mexia was indicted by the Public Prosecutor on the investigation about Costs of Maintenance of Contractual Equilibrium (CMECs). In addition, more recently, ERSE (Electricity Services Regulatory Entity) concluded that electricity producers have been receiving excessive rents and wants to cut them by 167 millions per year.
