German government closes package to help energy company Uniper

The German government will take an almost 30% stake in Uniper, a supplier to the energy sector, as part of a package driven by the recent jump in natural gas prices, in the face of lower deliveries from Russia, they said on Friday (22). ) the company and the country’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

Uniper was until then the biggest importer in Germany of Russian gas, used to supply industry, generate electricity and heat homes. The company called for help two weeks ago.

German officials soon said they would help, but finalizing the details took some time. One result will be higher prices for consumers.

Uniper had already revised its financial outlook downwards this year, pointing to a sharp reduction in deliveries by Russian state-owned Gazprom in recent weeks, which led the company to replace suppliers, paying much higher prices.

Scholz, who cut short his summer break for the announcement, stressed Uniper’s importance to the German economy. According to him, it was necessary to stabilize it now.

The chancellor said that an extra tariff would be imposed from September or October, which could lead to a rise of 2 euro cents per kilowatt hour, imposing a cost of 200 to 300 euros more per year on the bill of a family of four.

The chancellor promised, however, that there will be more efforts to protect people and businesses from higher energy prices.

Uniper’s majority shareholder is Fortum, a company based in Finland, which in turn has the Finnish government as its majority shareholder.

Scholz said the owners will effectively make a “substantial contribution” to the redemption by reducing the value of their diluted shares.

With the effects of the bailout package, Fortum’s stake in the company will go from around 80% to 56%. Source: Associated Press.