EDP will meet with shareholders in China on October 22

EDP’s General and Supervisory Board, an entity that gathers all reference shareholders from the electricity company, will hold a meeting in Beijing on October 22, the first meeting outside of Lisbon, ECO ascertained with a shareholder who is also a member of that Board. This meeting gains a new relevance because of the discussion around the choice for the Board in the next mandate and also because of the questions around whether or not António Mexia will remain the company’s CEO.

The shareholders meeting in Beijing, ECO ascertained, derives from an invitation from China Three Gorges, EDP’s largest shareholder, that goes back to 2015. In fact, the same source told ECO the General and Supervisory Board, chaired by Eduardo Catroga, foresees other meetings outside of Portugal, in other shareholders’ countries of origin.

Next week’s meeting — in which the Executive Board of Directors headed by António Mexia will, of course, participate –, does not include discussing the next mandate’s choices for the company’s bodies. The current mandate will be over in the end of this year and, traditionally, the elective general assembly takes place on April or May after the end of the year, but this time, the calendar accelerated.

The Chinese group, which raised its equity in the electricity company to 23.3% after a 208 million euros’ investment, signaled this morning, contrary to what had previously been disclosed, that they “fully support the success trajectory of EDP’s management team, which has been able to maintain a stable performance, in light of an unfavorable context both within the sector and at a macro level”. The 22^nd of October meeting will help understand China Three Gorges position as to whether or not they want to accelerate the calendar and define right away what can be done in the next mandate. However, a source reminds ECO that CTG does hold 25% equity, “but the remaining 75% also have a saying in this matter”.