By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF (Reuters) - Johannes Teyssen, chief executive of Germany's top utility E.ON (DE:EONGn), is expected to stay on as head of the group after spinning off its power generation business and other assets into a new entity, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
A final decision is still outstanding, the sources said, adding such a step was planned for the end of April.
A spokesman for E.ON declined to comment beyond pointing to what the group said in March, that it would given an update on the future management structure during the second quarter.
In one of the most drastic corporate responses to the energy industry's crisis, E.ON said in November it would split in two in 2016.
The future E.ON will consist of power and gas networks, renewable energy businesses as well as tailor-made energy solutions, while the new company will house energy trading, oil and gas exploration, as well as E.ON's struggling power generation business.
Teyssen, 55, took over as E.ON's CEO in 2010, just before Germany's decision to exit nuclear power and shift towards renewables. "He is still hungry," one of the sources said.
A fan of FC Bayern Munich, Teyssen, who studied economics and law, has spent most of his professional life at E.ON or predecessor companies. E.ON was formed in 2000 through the merger of industrial groups VIAG and VEBA.
The sources also said board members Leonhard Birnbaum, who joined E.ON from main peer RWE (DE:RWEG) in 2013, and Klaus Schaefer, E.ON's finance chief, were vying for the top job at the company that is to be spun off.