- Norway’s largest private power trader, Einar Aas in Grimstad, had major problems in September 2018 after very unusual price changes in the Nordic and German power markets.
- According to the power exchange Nasdaq, the difference between German and Nordic power prices was 17 times normal.
- Aas’ bet that Nordic and German power prices would be more equal went the wrong way, and he had to cover the loss. He paid NOK 350 million to the power exchange Nasdaq’s clearing house in Stockholm, but that was not enough.
- The clearing house took over the entire portfolio and resold it in a closed bidding round. It is assumed in the market that Swedish Vattenfall took over the portfolio.
- Nasdaq noted a loss of 114 million euros, of which 107 million euros must be covered by members of Nasdaq’s clearing fund. Among the biggest known losers is Finnish Fortum, which had to shell out 20 million euros, while Statkraft’s share was five million euros.
- In November 2018, Aas entered into an agreement with the creditors, which stipulated that they would be covered by around 50 per cent of the outstanding amount of NOK 1.1 billion.
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Einar Aas was Norway’s largest private power trader and among the country’s richest before everything collapsed in 2018. The very media-shy trader missed his bets on power prices and lost over a billion kroner.
But instead of declaring Aas bankrupt, the creditors entered into an agreement to cover around half of the claims. This meant, among other things, that Aas was allowed to keep the luxury villa in Grimstad. But he has had to sell property for at least 150 million kroner, including an apartment on Tjuvholmen in Oslo for 70 million kroner, three beach properties for more than 40 million kroner and a luxury cottage in Nissedal for more than nine million kroner.
The fact that Aas is making money again is also good news for power companies such as Fortum, Vattenfall and Statkraft, which were among those who lost the most in bankruptcy, and who had to contribute more than a billion kroner to the power exchange Nasdaq’s hedge fund to cover Aas’ losses.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We want you to share our cases using a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
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