Berlin to buy Fortum’s stake in Uniper and make an €8 billion capital injection | Photo credits: Uniper SE
(Updated with details, context and stock market price)
FRANKFURT, Sept 20 (Reuters) – The German state is to buy Finnish group Fortum’s stake in Uniper and inject eight billion euros into the company as part of a plan to nationalize the German energy supplier struggling, Uniper said Tuesday.
“A final agreement has not yet been concluded”, however specified the latter.
Fortum, Uniper’s largest shareholder with 78% of the company’s capital, for its part indicated that the operation was not yet finalized and that it would include the “return of the financing granted by the Finnish group to Uniper” which he estimates at eight billion euros.
The capital injection is to be made via a capital increase subscribed solely by the German state, which would bring the total loans and equity raised so far to stabilize Uniper to at least 29 billion euros.
On the stock market, the Uniper action took 1.94%, while the title of Fortum jumped 9.5% around 3:00 p.m. GMT.
Ahead of the announcements, a source told Reuters that Germany is expected to present a detailed plan on Wednesday for a 100% nationalization of Uniper.
Uniper, which benefited in July from a bailout plan of 15 billion euros in guarantees and equity from the German government, is affected in particular by the reduction in Russian gas supplies. (Report by Christoph Steitz and Essi Lehto; French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer and Sophie Louet)