Dallas, Feb. 26, 2004 — TXU announced that the board of directors has selected C. John Wilder as president and chief executive of TXU Corp., effective immediately.
Wilder, formerly executive vice president and chief financial officer of Entergy Corporation, will succeed Erle Nye, 66, who is stepping down as chief executive. Nye will continue as chairman of the board through May of 2005. He will remain on the board after that, and it is expected that Wilder will become chairman and chief executive.
“I’m tremendously excited about this opportunity to lead a company with such a strong history and commitment to service,” said Wilder. “TXU has the potential to become the undisputed industry leader. I’m committed to accelerating the momentum that began under Erle’s leadership in a manner that benefits employees, customers and shareholders.”
Wilder, 45, has been a core member of Entergy’s management team, serving in a wide variety of leadership roles, including creating and growing businesses, improving risk management controls, negotiating complex transactions and establishing a new standard of excellence in financial disclosures. Under his leadership, Entergy was recognized nationally for its financial performance and disclosure practices.
“TXU is well-positioned for the future, both operationally and financially. It’s the right time to step down as chief executive and welcome a new, supremely talented leader to TXU,” Nye said. “TXU is at a critical juncture with the potential to be a break-out company. I’m confident John Wilder’s leadership will take a good company to the next level.”
Nye will continue to be involved in industry and community affairs as chairman. A career employee, Nye was elected president and chief executive of the company in 1995 and chairman of the board in 1997.
Wilder assumes the chief executive’s role at TXU after five years with Entergy Corporation. Wilder joined Entergy in 1998 after 20 years with the Royal Dutch/Shell group. He served as a core member of the new management team appointed to lead Entergy’s financial turnaround. Under his leadership, Entergy achieved the industry-leading: total shareholder return of more than 200 percent; earnings growth of more than 14 percent per year; and improvement in net debt to total capital of almost 20 percent. Entergy completed about 20 complex transactions of more than $15 billion and dramatically improved the financial, operational, safety and customer performance of the company.
A native of Missouri, Wilder graduated magna cum laude from Southeast Missouri State University with a B.S. degree in business administration, and he earned an M.B.A. degree from the University of Texas. In 2004, Wilder was recognized by Institutional Investor as the best CFO in the Electric Utilities industry.
TXU will hold a news conference and simultaneous teleconference for news media from its Dallas headquarters (Dallas Mapsco 45L) with Wilder at 9:30 a.m. Central (10:30 a.m. Eastern) today. A media advisory on the conference is being issued this morning. For questions about the conference, call 972/791-6200.
TXU will host a teleconference for financial analysts with Wilder at 10:45 a.m. Central (11:45 a.m. Eastern) today. The teleconference number in the United States is 800/309-0343; outside the United States is 706/634-7057. The confirmation number is 5733587. The teleconference will be broadcast live on the TXU website at www.txucorp.com in the Investor Resource section for any parties who wish to listen, and a replay will be available approximately two hours after the teleconference is completed.
TXU is a major energy company with operations in North America and Australia. TXU manages a diverse energy portfolio with a strategic mix of over $31 billion of assets. TXU’s distinctive business model for competitive markets integrates generation, portfolio management, and retail into one single business. The regulated electric and natural gas distribution and transmission businesses complement the competitive operations, using asset management skills developed over more than one hundred years, to provide reliable energy delivery to consumers and earnings and cash flow for stakeholders. In its primary market of Texas, TXU’s portfolio includes 19,000 megawatts of generation and additional contracted capacity with a fuel mix of coal/lignite, natural gas/oil, nuclear power and wind. TXU serves more than five million customers in North America and Australia, including 2.6 million competitive electric customers in Texas where it is the leading energy retailer.
Visit www.txucorp.com for more information about TXU.
