Eskom Loses Another Top Executive on Cusp of Turnaround Plan

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s indebted power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. was already searching for a chief executive officer and an executive to lead a turnaround of the company. It will now have to cast its net even wider to include a treasurer.

Andre Pillay, who joined Eskom in 2011 and was made treasurer in 2016, will leave at the end of August. Chief Financial Officer Calib Cassim said Eskom requested Pillay remain at his post for the next two months, which sounds like he might have wanted to leave the struggling utility and its $32 billion debt sooner.

The exit of institutional knowledge at the power utility has been a frequently mentioned concern. Nearing almost a decade of experience at Eskom, Pillay will be hard to replace. That adds to finding someone with the best skill set to take over from CEO Phakamani Hadebe at the end of the month and hiring a chief restructuring officer, who will be largely in charge of splitting the utility into three separate entities.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Burkhardt in Johannesburg at pburkhardt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Herron at jherron9@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Liezel Hill

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