UNIPER REQUESTS NEW STATE AID
by Christoph Steitz
FRANKFURT (Archyde.com) – German energy giant Uniper asked the German government for a credit extension on Monday in the face of soaring gas and electricity prices, raising its bailout bill to 19 billion euros .
Germany’s biggest gas importer has requested an extension to its credit facility for another four billion euros, even as details of the bailout deal struck last month with the German government have yet to be worked out.
Uniper, majority-owned by the Finnish company Fortum, explained that it had already exhausted a credit line of 9 billion euros with the establishment KfW.
Uniper shares rose 1.1% on the stock market, while those of Fortum, which said on Monday it was in talks with the Finnish state on how to preserve its cash needs, climbed 3.3% .
Uniper’s losses are in the order of “more than” 100 million euros a day, said its CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach.
“We are working as quickly as possible with the German government to find a lasting solution to this emergency situation, otherwise Uniper will no longer be able to fulfill its critical function for Germany and Europe”, a- he added.
Sources told Archyde.com last week that KfW was prepared to extend credit to Uniper, which posted a loss of 12.3 billion euros in the first half of 2022, than was agreed under the last month’s $15 billion bailout deal.
(French version Tristan Chabba, edited by Sophie Louet)