Uniper Sets Aside €2.3 Billion for Payments Linked to Bailout

By Bloomberg

Feb 15, 2024

image is BloomburgMedia_S8W7EZT1UM0X00_15-02-2024_12-28-51_638435520000000000.jpg

Onshore wind turbines beyond the jetty at the Wilhelmshaven LNG Terminal, operated by Uniper SE, in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. The inauguration of the import terminal this Saturday will mark an important step for Germany, which has been dependent on Russian pipeline gas for decades and suffered severely since the shipments have stopped this year.

(Bloomberg) -- Uniper SE said it is setting aside around €2.3 billion ($2.5 billion) of its 2023 earnings for payments linked to Germany’s nationalization of the company back in 2022.

While the final amount of the payment is still dependent on its results for this year, it should be paid off the company’s existing funds, it said Thursday. The payments will fall due at the beginning of 2025.

The German utility was bailed out by the government at the height of the energy crisis, after Russia stopped supplying gas through the Nord Stream pipeline and prices soared. The rescue package was one of the largest in German corporate history.

The news comes as the German government is in the early stages of preparing to sell a big block of shares in the utility, unwinding the historic nationalization, Bloomberg reported last month.

Uniper “is now in a very solid financial position,” Chief Executive Officer Michael Lewis said. “We continue to consistently implement the European Union requirements” for the state aid.

Uniper said adjusted earnings before interest and taxes for 2023 will be over €6.3 billion, in line with a forecast of between €6 billion to €7 billion. It officially reports results on February 28.

By Priscila Azevedo Rocha , Petra Sorge