Legacy Progress Director's Production of Documents (Part 3 ... - NCUC

The filing does not say what cause Johnson had to resign. Duke'investor relations people have toldanalysts during the day that the company did hot have to file a reason, which indicates that whateverthe reason was, it is not material to the company's operations.The filing says he will receive a payment of more than $7.4 mil I ion, representing three-times theannual salary and bonus.specified.in his Duke.employment contract;He will get almost $1.4 million, which would have been a^OIS bonus-payment and a lump paymentof up to. $1.5 million in addition to that.He also gets "continued health ; and ; welfare.benefits i reimbursement for relocation expenses andaccelerated vesting of ajl his equity, compensation awards." But'the filling does not specjfy the valueof those items.S&P places Duke on CreditWatch negative after CEO shake-upSNL Energy, 7-3-12By Amy PoszywakStandard & Poor's Ratings Services late oh July-S placed Duke Energy Corp.'s ratings onCreditWatch with negative implications following the company's announcement that Bill Johnson hadresigned from the companyi which had just finalized its merger with Progress Energy Inc.The rating agency said the action is in response to the abrupt change in executive leadership.Johnson, 58, who had been president and CEO of Progress Energy; will be replaced by Jim Rogers,64, Duke's previous president and CEO, who had; planned on becoming chairman of the board ofdirectors ofthe combined company.S&P also revised the CreditWatch implications on its BBB+ corporate credit rating on ProgressEnergy and its subsidiaries, •_and:.6n the companies';issue;"ratings, to. deyelo'pihg frompositive."The sudden shift in management raises concerns-about'effective corporate governance, successfulhandling of the anticipated merger integration,'and the ongoing effective management of pendingchallenges that face the combined:entity," Standard &>Poor's creditanalystDimitri Nikas said in anews releaise.The rating agency expects to resolve.the CreditWatch listing jn the near term, after a closer reviewand assessment ofthe implications of the change in leadership and itsJmpact on the combined entity.Earlier in the day, Moody's affirmed the ratings and stable outlooks on Duke and Progress. Moody'salso assigned a Baa2 senior unsecured rating to: Duke's unsecured bank revolving credit facility,which is in place arid has been ; increased to $6 billion frbm $4 billi6ri through a previously agreedupon arrangement with the banks to accommodate the merger.The'falloutIn the roughly 18 months that followed Duke and Progress' initial merger announcement that.lead upto the closure of the'utilities'.$32 billion deal, it can be argued that the last-minute CEO shake-up stolethe show.The company saidlh a-calLwith.analysts July 3 thatit would : not be commentirig on the:board's'LEGPGNDIR001146