The Supervisory Board of Germany's largest publicly listed municipal utility group, the Mannheim-based energy company MVV Energie AG, has extended the contract of the company's CEO, Dr. Rudolf Schulten (52) by a further five years up to September 2013. As announced by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, the Lord High Mayor of Mannheim, Dr. Peter Kurz, in Mannheim following a meeting of the Supervisory Board on Friday, the respective resolution was adopted unanimously. According to Dr. Kurz, the Supervisory Board had thus "expressed its full confidence in the continuation of the successful strategy of profitable, value-driven growth" pursued by the incumbent CEO, whose contract would otherwise have expired next year.

The value of the company had risen over the past four years from a market capitalisation of around Euro 730 million to its current level of more than two billion euros. Over the same period, sales had grown from Euro 1.6 billion to Euro 2.3 billion most recently, while operating earnings had improved from Euro 100 million to around Euro 200 million. In parallel, the number of employees had risen from 5,727 to 6,394. According to Dr. Kurz, MVV Energie is thus "superbly positioned in the German market as one of the leading independent energy companies in Germany and is optimally prepared for the challenges and opportunities arising from regulation and increasing competition".

At the same time, the Lord High Mayor underlined the role played by MVV Energie AG as one of the most important and most successful companies in the Rhine/Neckar metropolitan region, as a major employer, as a driving force for technology and innovation, as a location factor securing the local energy supply and as a partner for joint environmental and climate protection targets. "With his prudence and leadership strength, his authority and stamina, as well as his entrepreneurial vision, Dr. Schulten has made a crucial contribution to this development. We are pleased that we will be able to maintain our successful cooperation with him in the coming years as well", added Dr. Kurz.

Before moving to Mannheim in 2003, Dr. Schulten worked as CFO at the Berlin energy supplier Bewag. Born in Göttingen in 1955, the energy manager grew up in Lützelsachsen an der Bergstrasse. Having studied business administration at Cologne, Dr. Schulten initially worked at the Energy Industry Institute at the University of Cologne, at Ruhrgas AG and at the management consultancy Roland Berger, before taking up senior positions at Bewag and the gas supplier GASAG in Berlin in 1994.

Mannheim, 14 December 2007