The gas company already started a process at the end of last year to sell the shares of its Russian subsidiary.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Dusseldorf The Düsseldorf-based energy company Uniper and its Finnish parent company may be making progress with the planned sale of their Russian activities. The Reuters news agency reported on Friday, citing local media reports, that several interested parties from the Russian energy industry were ready, including subsidiaries of Gazprom and Inter RAO.
Uniper and Fortum have so far not wanted to comment on the report when asked. From Fortum it was only said that the sales processes could drag on for some time. The Fortum share rose by almost twelve percent on Friday afternoon, and that of the MDax group Uniper by almost nine percent.
Uniper has wanted to get rid of its Russian business for a long time. The group is the majority owner, with 83.73 percent, of the Russian company Unipro, which is listed on the Moscow Stock Exchange and operates independently under Russian legislation. Unipro has 4,300 employees and five power plants with a total capacity of over eleven gigawatts.
At the end of last year, Uniper initiated a process to sell its shares. This had meanwhile been stopped due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. On Thursday, the Finnish parent company Fortum announced that it was planning a controlled withdrawal from Russia when it presented its quarterly figures. Uniper’s Russian power generation business will also be divested.
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Financial experts reacted cautiously to the plans and potential buyers. Analyst Ingo Becker from Bank Kepler Cheuvreux told Handelsblatt: “The question is how much such an agreement is worth. Due to the current sanctions, it will probably be difficult to transfer proceeds from a sale to the West.” A better alternative does not seem to be in sight for Fortum and Uniper either.
Uniper would lose an important source of income
Guido Hoymann, analyst at Metzler Capital Markets, suspects: “It would take significant political influence for such a deal to be processed.” Buying the Russian business of Fortum and Uniper is in Moscow’s interest. For Fortum and Uniper, however, it would be positive even if the companies made small proceeds from the sale. Many analysts have already written off Uniper’s business in Russia completely.
The bottom line is that Uniper is likely to lose a previously important source of income with the Russian business. Unipro generated an operating profit (adjusted EBIT) of EUR 230 million in the 2021 financial year, which accounted for almost 20 percent of Uniper’s operating profit.
More: Russian sanctions against Gazprom Germania – Habeck sees a new stage in the gas dispute.
