After the gas company Uniper, the federal government is now also taking over the German subsidiary of the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. The aim is to secure the gas supply, the Federal Ministry of Economics said on Monday. Otherwise, the over-indebted company would have faced bankruptcy.
Gazprom Germania has been under federal trusteeship since June. The company trades in gas, operates gas networks and accounts for around a fifth of Germany’s gas storage facilities. Since the federal government took over control with the Federal Network Agency, the company has been called Safe Energy for Europe, or Sefe for short. However, Sefe, like the also nationalized gas importer Uniper, subsequently accumulated massive losses – not least due to the failure of Russian deliveries and significantly higher gas prices.
Although Sefe still had profits and capital investments of over one billion euros. However, equity was recently minus 2.1 billion euros. “There is therefore an over-indebtedness in the commercial balance sheet,” says the justification for the takeover, which was published in the Federal Gazette on Monday afternoon. “The majority of business partners are reluctant to enter into and continue business relationships with Sefe.” A change of ownership including an increase in equity should now change this – in such a way that no money goes to the Russian owners.
To do this, the federal government uses a number of legal tricks. The profit and capital reserves are released “to reduce the balance sheet loss to be offset”. The share capital is set to zero from EUR 225 million – only to be increased again to EUR 225 million in the very next moment. This time, however, this share capital is held by a specially founded “Securing Energy for Europe Holding”. This step, in turn, is to be entered “ex officio immediately” in the commercial register of Sefe. At the end there is a “debt equity swap” with which Sefe is said to have more than seven billion euros in equity in the future. “There is a complete change of ownership,” says the Federal Gazette. It can happen that quickly if the federal government wants to take over the reins.
So far, the federal government has shied away from expropriating Russian companies, also for fear of retaliation against German companies. Now he argues with possible dangers to the community should Sefe collapse. However, the Russian owners can sue “within a month of the announcement”.