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Uniper headquarters in Düsseldorf
Photo: Oliver Berg / dpa
The gas crisis almost meant the end for the energy company Uniper.
Then the federal government agreed to step in.
Now the shareholders of Germany's largest gas trader have cleared the way for the nationalization of the supplier.
At the extraordinary general meeting on Monday, 99.46 percent of the shareholders approved the proposal for a capital increase of eight billion euros, excluding shareholders' subscription rights.
Only the federal government is entitled to subscribe to the shares.
With the takeover of the shares of the previous Finnish majority shareholder Fortum, the German state will hold a 98.5 percent stake in Uniper in the future.
The Federal Ministry of Economics announced the implementation is expected "this week".
In addition, up to 25 billion euros should come in through the issue of new shares
Approval of the EU Commission
Uniper has finally cleared the penultimate hurdle to nationalization.
The plans now have to be examined by the EU Commission under state aid law.
Uniper had stumbled because Russia had gradually stopped supplying gas to Germany.
In order to be able to meet its delivery obligations to municipal utilities and industrial companies, Uniper had to buy gas expensively on the energy exchanges.
The daily losses amounted to over 200 million euros at times.
rai/dpa
