It was a last-minute rescue: Last Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that he would provide up to 15 billion euros to help the ailing energy company Uniper. “We have to stop the bleeding,” said Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach. Uniper is currently losing more than 1.5 billion euros a month. Because the people of Düsseldorf have to buy the missing gas quantities from Russia on the open market in order to maintain their delivery commitments to German public utilities and industrial companies.
In addition: Uniper is saved for the time being, but now has to look for a new business model. What this could look like is completely unclear. “We need a completely new look at the company,” announced Maubach at the end of last week. “Gas procurement is always based on the assumption that we have a reliable supplier,” says the Uniper boss, who has only been CEO since April 2021. However, the uncertainties may also be repeated in the future. No business model can be built on that. No board member can take responsibility for “the risk that a single customer-supplier relationship brings the company to the brink of ruin”. Uniper, Gazprom’s largest foreign customer, has so far bought gas from Russia and then resold it to customers primarily in Germany. In the past, this brought good margins, but now the concept has led to disaster. Uniper also produces electricity, operates power plants in Russia and has a stake in a nuclear power plant in Sweden.
Was previously dependent primarily on Gazprom, which is now taking revenge: Uniper boss Klaus-Dieter Maubach.
(Photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP)
According to Maubach, the future will also be discussed with the federal government as the new shareholder. The federal government had announced that it would take over 30 percent of Uniper’s shares at a preferential price. Until then, the company should keep its head above water with money from the state bank KfW. At the same time, the federal government would give loans that can later be converted into shares. According to Maubach, it is even possible that the federal government’s stake in Uniper could increase to more than 50 percent in the medium term.
The Finns are now talking about a “good solution”
Most recently, the Finnish energy company Fortum held a good 78 percent of the shares. This participation will be diluted to 56 percent by the entry of the federal government. It remains to be seen whether Fortum will remain so in the long term. In corporate circles it is pointed out that Fortum boss Markus Rauramo has only been in office for two years, but had previously pushed ahead with the takeover of Uniper as chief financial officer. A lot of money has been put into Uniper: “There’s a lot to do with it.”
In corporate circles at Fortum, there is talk of a “good and face-saving solution”. The group, majority owned by the Finnish state, had refused to provide new capital and instead wanted to break up Uniper. The German government should take over the gas trade, which is responsible for the misery. The remaining parts should remain with Uniper and thus with Fortum. But this is off the table. Economics Minister Robert Habeck had previously warned against cherry picking by the Finns.
Another problem: Uniper has been tied to Gazprom for a very long time. Maubach announced at the end of last week that some long-term contracts would run until the mid-2030s. In addition, the Düsseldorf-based company is heading towards a legal dispute with the Russian gas supplier. “Of course we will try, for the benefit of our company, to hold Gazprom liable for the damage we suffer,” said Maubach. This will “probably be a legal dispute”. How exactly you want to proceed, he does not make public. Of course, the chances of success are slim.