Eduardo Catroga leaves EDP after 15 years
Eduardo Catroga will leave EDP. After 15 years at the company, the Portuguese manager and economist will cease to be CTG's representative on EDP's general and supervisory board.
The current member of EDP’s General and Supervisory Board, representing the Chinese company China Three Gorges (CTG), is leaving his position. After 15 years at EDP, Eduardo Catroga revealed in an interview with ECO that he was not available to continue, opting to close one cycle and open another. At 78, the manager and economist promises he will not retire, continuing to dedicate his time to business projects.
“In the last term, I’ve committed myself that I would stay only one more term and that term has already come to an end,” Catroga revealed to ECO, mentioning that he was not available to continue representing CTG. The current term ends on April 5, 2021.
Eduardo Catroga arrived at EDP in 2006 to be an independent member of the General and Supervisory Board, a position he held for three terms. Later, he represented the majority shareholder, CTG. The economist’s desire is now to dedicate his time to other companies.
“After 15 years, that’s enough. I want to enter a new cycle of sharing my professional time with other projects,” he explains to ECO, pointing that there are “new cycles and new challenges” to start.
EDP will invest in the countries with the best opportunities
As he is leaving, the manager talks about the future of EDP, assuring that Portugal will continue to be the company’s headquarters, but that the next investments depend on the places with the best opportunities. “EDP will continue to invest where there are opportunities, which may exist in Portugal, Spain, the USA or in any other country,” Eduardo Catroga said when asked about the company’s divestment in Portugal.
However, Catroga admits that “it is natural that it will invest proportionally more where there are greater growth opportunities that may satisfy its strategic criteria”, but he guarantees the headquarters will remain in Portugal: “EDP will continue to be a Portuguese-based company, but focused on opportunities in markets where it has know-how and a footprint.”
Asked whether the sale of part of CTG’s stake means a lack of interest from the Chinese, the still representative of the Chinese state-owned company guarantees that he has felt no lack of interest. “I interpret this as having taken advantage of good capital market opportunities,” he justifies, noting that CTG “continues to hold around 20% of the capital, being by far the largest single shareholder”.
“EDP is not a Chinese or Spanish company, it is a company that is in the capital market and holds the majority of the company’s capital,” Eduardo Catroga concluded.
