Roman's exit strategy
2010-09-23
As we noted in "Begging to be sued," CEO Martin Roman of ČEZ
doesn't take legal action against those who accuse him of being
on both sides of the table in billions of crowns in deals at ČEZ
and Czech Railways involving Škoda/Appian, presumably
because he knows he would lose. But he does seem to be
implementing a belated exit strategy. Most notably, he (or
Appian) sold Škoda Power to Doosan in late 2009. ČEZ's
management board then supported a statute change in June that
gives the ČEZ supervisory board the authority to approve big
deals, such as Temelín. This can help shift any blame for
malfeasance in choosing suppliers. Appian then sold Škoda
Transportation this week to a group of managers. Appian's
component parts will presumably continue to receive sweet deals
from ČEZ, Czech Railways and DP Praha, but Roman will be one
more step removed from the incriminating activity.
[Czech Republic Holding České dráhy Dopravní podnik]
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