The German state will nationalize the gas giant Uniper, asphyxiated by Russian gas cuts, Berlin and the company’s Finnish owner, the state-owned Fortum Group, announced Wednesday.
“The government will take over about 99 percent of Uniper,” the German economy ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
“Uniper is a central pillar of the German energy supply,” Berlin recalls to justify this radical intervention. The energy company supplies gas to hundreds of German municipalities.
This agreement replaces a first aid plan unveiled last July, which provided for Berlin to take a 30% stake in this group, which is Germany’s largest importer of gas.
In detail, Germany will buy at a price of 1.70 euros per share, all the shares of Fortum for a total of 500 million euros, according to the document.
Berlin will also carry out a capital increase of 8 billion euros, the government said.
The agreement also provides for the repayment by Germany of an 8 billion euro loan that Fortum had granted to its subsidiary.
This “divestment from Uniper is the right step to take, not only for Uniper but also for Fortum,” Fortum commented in a statement.
Uniper, Germany’s largest gas importer and storage company, has been hit hard by the drastic reduction in Russian gas deliveries since the war in Ukraine. The company was the main customer of the Russian group Gazprom in Germany. To meet its contracts, it must now obtain gas on the spot market, where prices have skyrocketed.
In total the losses generated amount to “8.5 billion euros”, Fortum said Wednesday.
The situation worsened when Russian giant Gazprom temporarily shut down its Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the main supplier of Russian gas to Germany, in early September.
Berlin has repeatedly warned in recent months about the “Lehman Brothers effect” that a Uniper bankruptcy would have on the energy markets. Given Uniper’s size, its collapse would shake the energy market and lead to energy shortages for thousands of customers.
