When it comes to communism, Klaus-Dieter Maubach knows no ifs or buts. “In my view, the entry of the federal government has nothing to do with communism,” he says. And that is, after almost two and a half hours of the extraordinary general meeting, one of the few funny moments. The head of the ailing gas company Uniper has previously explained at length why there was no way around this state entry. “Uniper was about to file for bankruptcy,” he says. That in turn would “lead to a complete loss for the shareholders”. And in the end, after three hours of monotonous question-answer exchange, they also agree. With 99.5 percent of the votes.
Uniper had resorted to Corona rules and held the Annual General Meeting purely virtually. That made it easier to call them up, but it certainly made them calmer too. Because from the hundreds of questions submitted, it quickly becomes clear that the frustration among the shareholders is at least as deep as the financial loss they have suffered. But questions are only read out. And Maubach stubbornly reads every answer off the sheet. Even the ones with Communism.
Uniper was in trouble after the Russian Gazprom group stopped supplying gas. No other company had imported as much gas from Russia as Uniper. In order to still meet the delivery obligations to customers, Uniper had to buy expensive gas from other sources. By September, a loss of 40 billion euros had accumulated. The federal government did not want to risk Uniper’s demise for fear of the German gas supply – so it decided to take it over.
The federal government is now buying all the shares from the Finnish major shareholder Fortum, and is also assuming its eight billion euro loans and guarantees for Uniper. He gives another eight billion euros in fresh equity – in exchange for shares. He pays EUR 1.70 per share. Shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the share was still worth around 40 euros. The federal government takes over almost 99 percent of the company, including the losses. The federal government and Uniper also concluded a corresponding framework agreement on Monday. The EU’s state aid approval is expected “soon”, says Maubach. And then, in the more distant future, profits again.