Energy company: Important step towards repirvatization: Uniper is planning a capital market day in a few weeks

The state will soon have to sell its shares in the gas importer. Now there should be more in-depth information for interested parties.

Uniper is planning a capital markets day in London on November 16th to provide investors and analysts with detailed information about the company.

The federal government is preparing two options for reprivatizing Uniper: a direct sale of large shares or an IPO.

Interested parties have already submitted the first non-binding bids for Uniper, including Canadian investors and European energy companies.

The second state gas importer Sefe is also starting a reprivatization with a capital increase and is looking for strategic investors under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Economics.

Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Berlin. Germany's nationalized gas importer Uniper wants to host a capital markets day soon. This is what three people familiar with the process told Handelsblatt. Uniper confirmed the information upon request. The day should take place on November 16th in London. An invitation was sent to investors on Wednesday afternoon.

With Capital Markets Day, Uniper is taking the next step towards re-privatization. The federal government nationalized the gas importer in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. By 2022, Uniper had obtained large parts of its gas via pipelines from Russia and delivered it to hundreds of municipal utilities and companies in Germany. When Russia stopped deliveries in autumn 2022, the company got into trouble. The state rescued the company to ensure gas supplies in Germany.

Now the federal government must reprivatize its largest energy company again. The EU stipulates that around 75 percent of the shares must return to private ownership by 2028. After a long political struggle, the reprivatization process is now gaining momentum. Observers assume that important steps could take place by Christmas.

Treasury is working with two options

Uniper formally belongs to the Federal Ministry of Finance. The decision on share sales therefore lies with Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD). Since the company is responsible for Germany's energy supply, the Federal Ministry of Economics under Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) is also reportedly involved again and again.

According to insiders, the votes recently, for example around Capital Markets Day, were complicated. Among other things, it was said to be difficult to agree on an exact date.

The Ministry of Finance, with the help of banks, lawyers and management consultants, is working in parallel on two options for reprivatization: a possible direct sale of large shares to individual investors or consortia and a possible new IPO. Uniper is currently listed on the stock exchange, but less than one percent of the shares are in free circulation because the state holds more than 99 percent of the company.

The upcoming capital market day is aimed primarily at interested parties who would buy shares in Uniper in an IPO. They should be brought to a uniform level of knowledge. Uniper management can then start a so-called roadshow and hold discussions with individual interested parties.

As part of the direct sales path, the so-called M&A track, the federal government has already received initial, non-binding offers from interested parties. According to Handelsblatt information, bids included a consortium of Canadian investors Brookfield and CPP Investments, the Norwegian energy group Equinor, the energy group RWE in a consortium with the investor KKR and the Czech investor Daniel Kretinsky with his company EPH.

In a recent conversation with journalists, EPH boss Jan Springl said that energy remains a top priority for the company. EPH is, among other things, the largest shareholder in the French energy group Total. In Germany, the conglomerate owns, among others, the Lausitz energy group LEAG. The group always uses profits to reinvest instead of distributing them and holds the companies it acquires for the long term, emphasized Springl.

The state has to sell most of its shares

A re-privatization process is now also underway at Sefe, a second gas importer that the federal government nationalized in the wake of the war in Ukraine. The company is currently working on bringing an investor into the company as part of a capital increase, if possible by the end of the year. Such an investor could then take over larger shares in a further step, according to company circles.

As with Uniper, the state must sell around 75 percent of its shares in Sefe by 2028. He can also sell 100 percent. In the case of Sefe, the decision lies with the Federal Ministry of Economics.

Regarding the Ministry's plans for Sefe, Bernhard Kluttig, Head of the Gas and Hydrogen Department in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, recently said at a Handelsblatt event: "We are not only looking at the privatization of Sefe from purely fiscal aspects. You could also say that the privatization must be carried out in such a way that in the end the purchase price for the company or for individual parts of the company is maximum. We look at this more from energy supply security points."

The ministry is looking for strategic investors who could advance the company and the energy supply for Germany and Europe. And it is “very possible” that the state will ultimately retain a share in the company “with corresponding rights”.