I’ve been following the proposed TXU buyout since the beginning and am really fed up with the disingenuous PR coming out of their news and press releases, about how the deal will benefit all and lower our rates. Then we had the outrageous lobbying and PR expenses that Jeff posted about yesterday. Today comes another tidbit from the Wall Street Journal’s Deal Blog. It seems that CEO John Wilder talked with KKR weeks before he ever told his board about the proposed private buyout, and he signed a confidentiality agreement at that time, without their knowledge.
As the article states "Wilder waited at least two — and perhaps as much as three weeks — before alerting any members of his board about negotiations with two private-equity firms wanting to buy TXU. The entire board didn’t learn that the company was on the block until at least fix or six weeks after that. It also reports that "Such agreements are almost always the province of boards of directors, not executives employed by those boards."
Wilder won’t stay on if the deal goes through, but you and I will still have to stay on with TXU controlling the north Texas ‘price to beat’ market. Wilder will leave with 300 million bucks and TXU will be run by a private entity not beholden to public owners. Talk about a sweet deal.