According to Handelsblatt, the framework of Uniper’s rescue package should be ready during this week.
Germany’s The federal government can demand up to five billion euros from Fortum in the possible breakup of the energy company Uniper, Saksalaislehti Handelsblatt says citing his sources.
The companies are currently negotiating with the German federal government about rescuing Uniper, which has fallen into crisis due to the decrease in gas supplies from Russia. Finland is also involved in the negotiations.
The Finnish state owns 51 percent of Fortum, which in turn is Uniper’s majority owner with a 78 percent stake.
Fortum has proposed that Uniper be broken up. In practice, the German state would take over Uniper’s gas business, which is currently making huge losses. The rest of Uniper would remain with the current owners. The Finnish government has said that it supports this proposal.
Since Uniper’s gas business is currently heavily loss-making, Germany would probably demand compensation from Fortum for taking it over.
Read more: Bankruptcy, nationalization or something in between? This is how the fate of Uniper and Fortum is now being negotiated
Handelsblatt according to sources, a compensation of the size of Uniper’s current market value, around 3.5 billion euros, would not necessarily be enough for Germany to agree to take over the risks of Uniper’s gas business.
According to the German newspaper, the exact amount included in the possible splitting solution is still being negotiated, but the thoughts of the Federal Republic of Germany are closer to five billion euros.
However, the magazine does not say what would happen to Fortum’s current Uniper shareholdings and loans in this solution, which significantly affects the attractiveness of the package from Fortum’s point of view.
In a story published by HS on Tuesday, the members of the Finance Committee of the Finnish Parliament reacted strongly to the idea that the Uniper negotiations would bring additional costs to Finnish taxpayers.
Read more: “The people of Finland cannot be made to pay the bills” – The members of the Finance Committee criticized Germany for the Uniper mess
Possible is also the fact that the German state will become a shareholder of Uniper in its current form at a very low price per share. According to Handelsblatt, the federal government’s share of the company could be 25-30 percent. In addition, the federal government could finance Uniper with 3–5 billion euros.
According to the newspaper, Finland would be open to Germany’s 25 percent share, but has not yet fully accepted the issue.
According to Handelsblatt, the framework of Uniper’s rescue package should be ready during this week. After this, a decision would be made on which route to take to save Uniper.
#Energy #crisis #Handelsblatt #Germany #demand #billion #euros #Fortum #breakup #Uniper
