The ailing energy company Uniper is facing nationalization. An agreement should be announced on Wednesday, insiders report to the Reuters news agency. It amounts to a complete takeover, in which the Finnish parent company Fortum gets out completely. The Federal Ministry of Economics declined to comment. Fortum stressed that there was no agreement.
The Bloomberg news agency reports that the federal government, Uniper and Fortum have already reached an agreement. The federal government is planning a cash injection of around 8 billion euros for Uniper SE as part of an unprecedented agreement to nationalize the gas giant in order to avert a collapse in the country’s energy sector. According to Bloomberg, the federal government will buy Fortum’s stake in Uniper as part of the agreement. The money injected into the Düsseldorf-based utility will enable it to repay a Fortum loan.
“Everyone involved is working flat out on a sustainable stabilization solution for Uniper,” explained Uniper, referring to the stabilization package agreed with the federal government and Fortum at the end of July. “As we already communicated on September 14, due to the increased uncertainties in the operating environment, those involved are currently also examining adjustments to the stabilization measures, including a capital increase that would lead to a significant majority stake by the federal government in Uniper.” Discussions were ongoing .
SPD faction leader Rolf Mützenich signaled support for a state takeover of the gas supplier. “If others should now also come to the conclusion that this is the right way, we will support it,” says Mützenich with a view to the discussion in the traffic light government. Regarding the controversial gas surcharge, he adds that the SPD parliamentary group – alongside the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology – will also take a legal look at it. The SPD parliamentary group leader says that the economics minister himself has admitted that the gas surcharge from his house and himself does not have the necessary “good polish”.
Uniper is the largest German gas company. The company is particularly hard hit by the Russian gas supply cuts. The group has to buy gas as a replacement on the expensive spot market and makes high losses in the process. In the first half of the year alone, Uniper made a loss of over twelve billion euros.
Immediately before the expected nationalization of the German subsidiary Uniper, Fortum shares were suspended from trading. This is announced by Nasdaq, which operates the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The provider will make an announcement later in the day. Fortum titles were up 9.5 percent at EUR 12.10 at the time of suspension. Uniper shares continue to be traded and, after initial losses, have risen by 1.5 percent to EUR 4.08.
