Uniper ran into problems when the Russian state gas group Gazprom cut off its supply to Europe. As a result, the company had to source gas from the market at prices much higher than those of its long-term contracts with Gazprom, leading to a loss of more than 12 billion euros in the first half of 2022. CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach recently said that the search for an alternative to Russian gas could result in a loss of 7 billion euros this month.
According to Bloomberg, the German and Finnish governments are discussing a possible nationalization. Uniper is largely owned by utility company Fortum, which is owned by the Finnish state.
The German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Fortum declined to comment. Uniper could not immediately respond to questions about the news.