UPDATE 2-PG & E is on the cusp of redefining its leadership with investor support – WSJ | Agricultural products



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(Adds PG & E declined to comment)

March 16 (Reuters) – PG & E Corp. is on the verge of appointing a new chief executive and reorganizing its board of directors, with the support of some of its biggest investors, the Wall Street Journal announced on Saturday. while the electricity company is restructuring after bankruptcy due to possible engagements of California wildfires.

Bill Johnson, who is about to retire as CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority in April, is the favorite to win the PG & E senior position, the paper quoted people close to the issue as saying.

PG & E has also made offers to 10 new independent candidates on the board and is expected to release the list as early as next week, saying the support from its shareholders is important, the report said.

Johnson's new role, which could also be announced next week, has not been finalized yet and other candidates were still being interviewed, the newspaper added.

The utility filed for bankruptcy protection in January in anticipation of forest fire liability, including the catastrophic fire of 2018 that killed 85 people.

PG & E declined to comment, while no one was available to TVA in the US for Saturday.

A trio of activist investors, who together hold nearly 10% of PG & E's shares, have worked with the company to change its management, the newspaper reported.

The three hedge funds, Abrams Capital Management LP, Knighthead Capital Management LLC and Redwood Capital Management LLC, announced Friday in a statement that they had agreed with PG & E to work together to appoint a new CEO and update its board. bit.ly/2HqIxyM

The list of board members they helped PG & E to bring together should include experts in cybersecurity, nuclear safety and restructuring, the Journal said.

Former PG & E CEO Geisha Williams resigned in January after less than two years of work.

Last month, the company announced that it did not expect five of the ten members of its board to be re-elected at an annual meeting of shareholders in May. He also indicated that he expected the board of directors to include 11 independent directors by the meeting, without specifying the size of the board of directors.

According to the Journal, the efforts of the three investors are separate from those of another PG & E investor, BlueMountain Capital Management, who had earlier named in March its own list of 13 people that she hopes to install in as directors of the troubled electricity company. (Report by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru, edited by Daniel Wallis and Marguerita Choy)

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