A key strategy was to expand the size of its regional platform. Initially, a merger was planned between KCPL and Utilicorp, but this deal fell through when shareholders, influenced in part by the prospect of a simultaneous hostile takeover bid by Western, withheld their support.
Western Resources would control Typically, finalization of the merger was contingent upon shareholder and regulatory approval, respectively. Though regulators seemed willing to grant their approval under certain conditions, KCPL terminated the merger agreement late in Western Resources' stock price had fallen more than 46 percent by the end of the year. On the heels of this failure, Western Chairman and CEO David Wittig spearheaded a new plan to restructure his company and revive its stock.
While the Oneok investment had proved solid, Protection One had performed poorly, dragging the whole of WR down in the process. Wittig's strategy was to liberate the utility assets from this burden, while coupling the relatively attractive Oneok with Protection One. To consolidate the shift, Western was renamed Westar Energy, Inc. Though the company's regulated utilities had remained strong, the company's overall financial condition was suffering from the failure of its non-regulated enterprises.
Further, the company had come under intense scrutiny for continuing to pay its top executives exorbitant salaries throughout these poorly performing years. Criticism was sharply focused on David Wittig, under whose leadership, which began in , the company had declined steadily. In November , Wittig stepped down in the face of federal indictments charging him with bank fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy, not directly related to his leadership of Western Resources.
At the same time, the Kansas Corporation Commission ordered a thorough reorganization of Westar Energy. After finding that Westar had accumulated a huge corporate debt over the course of its continued investments in Protection One, the commission directed the company to segregate its utilities from the parent company as well as the unregulated ventures, so that accountability for income and debts could be enforced.
Including other sweeping measures, the thrust of the commission's order was to favor the health and solvency of the utilities business over that of the non-utilities business, thereby protecting regional utilities customers. This was a reversal of the order of priorities that Westar had followed in recent years. James Press, As consumers, we often take for granted all the hard work that goes into building a great company.
We see them around but we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Finally, we can read about how these great companies came about with Company Histories. Ready to get started? I already have an account.
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Pay my bill. Do I have to re-register my account? A triumph for Southern Union occurred when Fortune magazine named the company among its October list of America's fastest-growing companies, the only utility to make the list.
In , impending deregulation of the energy industry and the increasingly competitive environment for consumers loomed large for Southern Union. The Florida market was targeted for nontraditional applications of natural gas for annual use, such as desiccant technology, gas-fired peak shaving equipment, natural gas-powered air conditioning, and natural gas-fired cogeneration.
As it neared the close of the century, Southern Union was providing natural gas services in Florida, Missouri, Texas, and Mexico. Even with pending deregulation of the energy industry, and competition heating up, Southern Union appeared to have the equipment, organization, and personnel in place to guarantee reliable service to consumers well on into the next millennium.
James Press, As consumers, we often take for granted all the hard work that goes into building a great company. We see them around but we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Finally, we can read about how these great companies came about with Company Histories. Copyright c Company-Histories. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy. Quick search. Company Histories As consumers, we often take for granted all the hard work that goes into building a great company.
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