Kretinsky's EPH among suitors approached about Uniper, sources say (updated)

EPH Invest SpA

20/01/2025 10:31

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      Kretinsky's EPH already operates power stations in Germany
    

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      EPH is "part of the process" - source
    

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      Berlin studying full sale of Uniper stake
    

  
 (Adds detail, context from paragraph 7)
    By Christoph Steitz, Emma-Victoria Farr and Jan Lopatka
       FRANKFURT/PRAGUE, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Czech billionaire
Daniel Kretinsky is among potential suitors who have been
approached by Berlin about a purchase of German state-owned
utility Uniper  UN0k.DE , three people familiar with the matter
said.
    Sources have said previously that others approached include
New York-headquartered fund Brookfield  BN.N  BN.TO , Norway's
Equinor  EQNR.OL  and Abu Dhabi's TAQA  TAQA.AD .
    Czech energy holding company EPH, which is majority-owned by
Kretinsky's investment vehicle EPCG, is "part of the process",
one of the sources said, declining to be identified because the
talks are confidential.
    EPH and Uniper both declined to comment.
    The Finance Ministry, which oversees Berlin's stake, had no
immediate comment.
    Berlin is looking at divesting its 99.12% stake in Uniper,
which had to be nationalised during Europe's energy crisis in
2022, with options ranging from a partial to a full sale of its
holding, sources have said.
    Uniper is currently valued at 19 billion euros ($19.6
billion) meaning a stake sale could rank among Europe's biggest
deals in 2025 even though sources have said a sale would likely
involve a discount.
    EPH purchased some Uniper assets in France in 2019 and is no
stranger to Germany's energy sector, having bought Vattenfall's
 VATN.UL  local lignite-fired power stations in 2016.
    In Germany, investment firms controlled by Kretinsky also
own a fifth of Thyssenkrupp's  TKAG.DE  steel unit and 45.62% of
wholesaler Metro  B4B.DE .
    The government has spent 13.5 billion euros on bailing out
Uniper in one of Germany's biggest corporate rescues.
    Any deal involving Uniper as critical infrastructure will
face comprehensive regulatory scrutiny, two of the people said.
    Berlin can critically review, and even block, any attempts
by non-EU suitors to buy more than 10% in German power assets.
    Uniper supplied around a quarter of the gas consumed in
Germany last year and is its largest gas storage operator. It
also operates nearly a quarter of the country's so-called
systemically relevant power capacity which must be kept on
reserve to ensure supply.
        ($1 = 0.9699 euros)

 (Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Emma-Victoria Farr and Jan
Lopatka; Additional reporting by Andres Gonzalez and Christian
Kraemer; editing by Miranda Murray and Jason Neely)
 ((christoph.steitz@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 220 133 647))