Germany to buy Fortum's Uniper stake, inject 8 billion euros

Tue, September 20, 2022 
By Markus Wacket and Tom Käckenhoff

BERLIN/DUESSELDORF, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Germany is set to buy Fortum's stake in Uniper and inject a further 8 billion euros ($8 billion) as part of a nationalisation of the gas importer, Uniper said on Tuesday.

The capital injection, which would come via a capital increase subscribed only by Germany's government, would bring the total package of loans and equity used to stabilise Uniper so far to at least 29 billion euros.

A final agreement has not yet been concluded Uniper said.

Fortum, which owns a 78% stake in Uniper, said that the deal will include the "return of the financing Fortum granted to Uniper" which the Finnish group has put at 8 billion euros.

A firm agreement of the nationalisation of Uniper, which has been hit by soaring gas prices and a cut off in supplies of Russian gas, will be unveiled on Wednesday, sources have said.

Uniper shares were 1.7% higher.

"We need the state as the main shareholder in order to survive the gas crisis and to master the energy transition in the long term," Uniper's works council chief Harald Seegatz told Rheinische Post.

($1 = 1.0019 euros) (Reporting by Markus Wacket and Riham Alkousaa in Berlin, Tom Kaeckenhoff in Duesseldorf and Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt, editing by Rachel More)