Uniper’s former majority shareholder, the Finnish energy group Fortum, is seeking state aid in Finland. Fortum asked for the first tranche of a loan to “be prepared for new turmoil,” the company said. The loan has a total volume of € 2.3 billion, the first tranche is € 350 million.
Fortum wants to use the money to pay for the increasing surcharges of the stockbrokers who are asking companies for the risk of non-payment. Fortum currently has sufficient equity funds for this, the company assured.
Fortum is owned by the majority of the Finnish state, which slightly increased its stake to 51.26% in early September. The group owns almost 78% of Uniper, but the largest German gas importer is currently in the process of nationalization. According to the Federal Ministry of Economy, the federal government takes over 99 percent of Uniper; Fortum will receive nearly € 500 million for its shares and € 8 billion in loans paid to Uniper.
Uniper was in trouble due to the lack of gas deliveries from Russia. The company got most of its gas from Russia and now has to provide its customers with much more expensive substitutes.
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