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Uniper: The ailing energy company has to write off billions in Russia

2022-09-16T08:45:38.583Z


It is not only the gas prices that are driving the energy company to the brink of ruin: another billion-dollar burden is also looming from a power plant stake in Russia.


Enlarge image

Father frustration: Uniper boss

Klaus-Dieter Maubach

has hardly thought he has closed financial holes when new ones open up.

Photo:

Marina Weigl for manager magazin

Reiner Hartmann

(77) is a man who is commonly referred to as a storm-tested man.

The economist has been in the Russian business for 37 years: first he worked for Ruhrgas, then for Eon, now he is the man in Moscow for the heavily reeling Uniper Group.

Hartmann heads the representative office there, knows every halfway important energy manager and politician in the country, and walked in and out of Gazprom for a long time as if he were part of the cleaning staff.

Only: In all likelihood, even those who know the Kremlin will no longer be able to save Uniper's Russian adventure.

The misery bears the name of Unipro, a listed power plant company of which Uniper owns 84 percent;

the rest are held by small shareholders.

The company is managed by

Maxim Shirokov

(56), who was educated at an academy of the Russian Defense Ministry.

Years ago, Uniper tried to get rid of the unloved daughter.

But nobody wanted to pay the required two billion euros at the time.

The next attempt followed at the end of 2021;

which was frozen because of the Ukraine war.

Now the Chose seems hopeless.

In the first half of the year, Uniper already wrote off 832 million euros on the Unipro goodwill and Russian power plants.

Insiders suspect that the remaining 1.5 billion euros will soon have to be taken off the books – another billion-dollar trauma for the ailing group.

Stable profit maker from Russia

The bankruptcy fits into the picture of a company in paralysis.

After Russia turned off the pipeline tap, expensive gas purchases on the spot market brought the company to the brink of ruin.

The state is now getting involved on a large scale, making financial commitments of more than 20 billion euros and possibly even nationalizing Uniper in the end.

The previous major shareholder Fortum, a Finnish energy company, has to secure its own liquidity and receives state aid.

And the exit from problem-laden businesses - see Russia - is now also not possible for Uniper boss

Klaus-Dieter Maubach

(60).

It's a mess.

Unipro accounts for 45 percent of the group's total electricity production, employs more than 4,000 people and on good days delivers 20 percent of the total profit.

In these really bad times, the Russian 193 million euros reported as of June 30th are actually the only plus figures on the balance sheet.

Small problem: the money does not come from the country;

the sanctions imposed on Russia also affect payment transactions.

The same applies to possible sales proceeds, provided a buyer can be found for Unipro at all.

The company management itself does not bode well.

According to the semi-annual report, Uniper has "increased the risks to significant" in connection with the Russian subsidiary.

The worst case: expropriation or loss of control.

Business with Russia - that will no longer work for Uniper.

Maubach believes there will no longer be a business relationship with Gazprom.

At best, you see yourself in court: Maubach wants to sue for damages from the Russian state-owned company and Putin's darling -- an absurd request from today's perspective.

Perhaps a person who understands Russia like Hartmann will be needed even longer.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-09-16

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