Dong names new CEO

TDC’s shares plummeted after news that its CEO was moving to Denmark’s largest energy company

The board of Dong Energy announced today that Henrik Poulsen, the current CEO of telecommunications company TDC, will take over as CEO of Denmark's largest energy firm.

Fritz Schur, the chairman of Dong’s board of directors, wrote in a press release that Henrik Poulsen was selected to continue Dong’s investment strategy within renewable energy.

"The board of directors is delighted that Henrik Poulsen has accepted the role,” Schur said. “Dong Energy is a strong and well-run company that is enjoying significant growth in offshore wind and oil and gas production.”

Dong Energy has about one million customers in Denmark and is a leading energy operator in northern Europe. The company’s commitment to renewable energy, pioneered under the former CEO Anders Eldrup, attracted Poulsen to the role.

“The company is experiencing rapid growth and still has huge potential, which I look forward to help realise,” Poulsen wrote in the same press release. “Another major attraction for me was the challenge that comes with the fact that DONG Energy is a company of which many people have high expectations.”

Poulsen will be taking over from Eldrup, who was suddenly dismissed in March after revelations that he bypassed the board in granting extraordinarily high salaries to several key advisors in the company, which is majority-owned by the state.

Dong’s chief financial officer, Carsten Krogsgaard Thomsen, was appointed as acting CEO after Eldrup’s dismissal and will remain in that role until Poulsen takes up his post sometime before November 1.

TDC’s share price dropped 4.1 percent immediately after the announcement that the company would be losing its CEO.

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