German energy company Juniper will cost the German budget at least €8 billion.
The nationalization of the largest German energy company Juniper will cost the German budget at least €8 billion. This will lead to the fact that the total package of financial assistance for the stabilization of the company will amount to at least €29 billion.
Berlin intends to buy out Finnish Fortum’s stake in Uniper (78%), after which the total state share in its capital will be about 90%. The new financial injections will lead to the fact that the total package of financial assistance used to stabilize the company will amount to at least €29 billion, according to Reuters.
Uniper’s problems began after the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine and the reduction of Russian gas supplies: the company was forced to purchase large volumes of raw materials at elevated prices on the spot market. On July 8, Uniper turned to the German government for help.
Juniper announced that it is negotiating with the government and Fortum on amendments to the July financial assistance program, which turned out to be insufficient, given the rapidly rising gas prices. “It is assumed that the federal government will receive a significant controlling stake in Uniper,” the company said, noting that a final agreement has not yet been worked out.
Earlier, Fortum provided a loan to Uniper for € 8 billion, Bloomberg reports.
“We consider it important that Fortum returns the €8 billion in funding it provided to Uniper, and in general that Finnish taxpayers are not exposed to unreasonable expenses because of this,” said Finnish Minister for state-owned companies Tyutti Tuppurainen. And I noticed that it was too early to comment on the details of the transaction before its completion.
