Pharol CEO to be new EDP board chairman

Luís Palha da Silva, the CEO of Pharol, is the name put forward to shareholders at energy giant EDP as chairman of its general board.

According to ECO Insider, Palha da Silva will be proposed by Oppidum Capital SL (Masaveu Internacional/Liberbank) which holds 7.19% of EDP capital but will also be supported by other major shareholders, namely the Chinese (China Three Gorges) which detain around 24% of the share capital.
EDP profits remained largely stable between 2010 (€1Bn) and 2017 (1€.1Bn) but plummeted in 2018 to €519 million.
The Portuguese energy giant has been without a board chairman since the middle of 2018 when António Vitorino was appointed the European Union’s director of migrations.
It is not considered normal for a company as large as EDP and with an international reach, market exposure, and one subject to a Public Acquisition Offer launched by China Three Gorges (CTG) launched a year ago and still in progress, to have the chair vacant.
Shareholders are also having problems agreeing on the nomination of a new chairman. EDP has a vice-chair of the general assembly, the lawyer Rui Medeiros, of Sérvulo.
The task of the Chairman of the General Assembly is important for EDP for two reasons: one structural and the other circumstantial. The chairman has a place at the General Council of Supervision (Supervisory Board) where the main shareholders and independent members sit.
Regarding the PAO, the Chairman of the General Assembly has to decide if the Chinese shareholders, CTG and CNIC, can vote using all of their votes, almost 30%, or if these are limited to a ceiling under statues which is 25% because they are held by the Chinese State and not a private Chinese entity.
Luís Palha da Silva is the CEO of Pharol, which has a 5.51% shareholding in Oi. In 2014 Pharol subscribed a share capital increase of Oi by the contribution in kind of Portugal Telecom Assets, or 100% interest in PT Portugal, which included all the group’s businesses except its Brazilian subsidiaries Oi and Contax.
Pharol is a holding company specialising in holding shares in companies that operate in the telecommunications sector.