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AMSTERDAM / Reuters
A fight over the planned privatisation of Dutch energy company Eneco resurfaced on Monday as its works council called for an inquiry after the company announced that its CEO will step down in September.
A large majority of the company’s 53 municipal shareholders voted in October to privatise Eneco, while CEO Jeroen de Haas and works council chairman Willem Hofman had lobbied against it and pressed for conditions including preservation of its profile as a renewables-focused business.
The company said on Monday that De Haas, CEO since 2007, will leave on September 1. Eneco said its supervisory board reached the decision “in close consultation†with De Haas but declined to clarify the reasons for his departure.
Hours later the works council issued a statement signed by Hofman, saying it will ask the Amsterdam Enterprise Chamber to launch an inquiry into De Haas’s departure and other recent actions of the supervisory board.
Eneco spokesman Edwin van de Haar read a statement from the company’s supervisory board, saying that it is preparing for the works council’s actions. After months of feuding, shareholders and Eneco’s boards had agreed in February that the company would be sold, paving the way for privatisation in the coming months.