Inquisitive execs at Florida Progress, CP&L to watch purchase votes

By STEVE HUETTEL

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 14, 2000

Top executives in St. Petersburg and Raleigh, N.C., will be watching closely when each other's shareholders vote this week on Carolina Power & Light's purchase of Florida Progress Corp.

But they'll do it from a distance.

The $5.3-billion deal has been in the works for a year, but Florida Progress bosses think it would be bad taste to show up at the CP&L meeting in Raleigh on Wednesday morning.

The Floridians view the meetings as separate, though obviously related, events, Florida Progress spokeswoman Melanie Forbrick said.

Likewise, CP&L brass will skip the vote at Florida Progress' annual meeting at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg 23 hours later.

"It would be presumptuous," said Keith Poston, a CP&L spokesman. "It's important that the management of Florida Progress make their case. . . . We'll have an opportunity to communicate with their shareholders later."

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