| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Gas Utilities, Major Integrated Oil and Gas, Oil and Gas Drilling and Exploration, Oil and Gas Equipment and Services, Oil and Gas Pipelines, Oil and Gas Refining and Marketing, Professional Wrestling (Total Nonstop Action Wrestling) |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Headquarters | Dallas, Texas, USA |
| Key people | Robert W. Carter, Founder, Chairman and CEO Todd W. Carter, President Janice Carter, EVP, Secretary, and Treasurer |
| Products | Power plants, Pipelines, Clean fuels, Finance |
| Website | www.pandaenergy.com |
Panda Energy International, Inc. is an American privately held company that constructs, maintains and operates environmentally friendly power plants, with the name of the company a reference to the endangered Giant Panda. The company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is a division of The Panda Group.
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Panda Energy was founded by current chairman Robert W. Carter in 1982. The creation of the company was a direct result of the passage of the 1978 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, which introduced favorable surplus disposal measures for small-scale commercial energy producers. The Carter family have owned a controlling stake in the company ever since, making Panda Energy a family business.
Robert W. Carter has been the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Panda Energy International Inc. (Panda International), holding Company of Panda Interfunding Corp. and Panda Funding Corp. since January 1995 and serves as President. Mr. Carter serves as Manager of Panda Rosemary, LLC. He serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Panda Global Energy Company. He has held similar Chief Executive positions with Panda Energy Corporation ('PEC'), a subsidiary of Panda International and its subsidiaries since he founded PEC in 1982. Mr. Carter also is President of Robert Carter Oil & Gas, Inc. (an oil and Gas exploration company), which he founded in 1980. From 1978 to 1980, Mr. Carter was Vice President of oil and gas lease sales for Reserve Energy Corporation (an oil and gas exploration company). From 1974 to 1978, he served as a marketing consultant to Forward Products, Inc. (a petrochemical company). Mr. Carter was Executive Vice President of Blasco Industries (a Chemical and Textile Manufacturer) from 1970 to 1974. He served as a sales representative and Sales Manager for Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation (a petrochemical, pulp and paper company) from 1965 to 1970. From 1960 to 1965, he was a sales representative for Inland, Mead Paper Company in Atlanta. He has been the Chairman and Director of Panda Ethanol Inc. since November 6, 2006. Mr. Carter serves as Director of Panda Energy International Inc. Mr. Carter attended the University of Georgia.
In October 2002, Panda Energy purchased a controlling interest (72%) of the Nashville, Tennessee-based professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from founder and CEO Jerry Jarrett. The seemingly unlikely acquisition came about after Dixie Carter, the daughter of Robert W. Carter and a TNA publicist, contacted her father and persuaded him to purchase the company (which was facing bankruptcy after a major financial backer, HealthSouth Corporation, withdrew their support).
On October 31, 2002, Panda Energy created the limited liability company TNA Entertainment in order to administer TNA. While Jeff Jarrett, the former President of TNA, was appointed Vice President, the majority of other management positions were filled by former Panda executives. Chris Sobol, the Panda Manager of Business Development, was appointed Vice President of Operations, and Frank Dickerson (and later Kevin Day) was appointed chief executive officer, while Dixie Carter was made President.