Finnish Fortum Cleared to Control Uniper

Finnish state utility Fortum has been cleared to take control of German utility Uniper, following notice from the Russian antitrust service March 13 (FAS) that it does not need a merger clearance decision. "With this statement by the FAS, all the regulatory conditions required for closing the transactions have been fulfilled," Fortum said. On closing, Uniper will appear in Fortum's accounts as a subsidiary.

Uniper had fiercely resisted the takeover for some time, and in the process several key executives left the company. But last October, Fortum announced the purchase in principle of shares held by Elliott Management Corporation and Knight Vinke Energy Advisors, taking it comfortably over the 50% mark.

Fortum will close the transactions in two tranches. The first tranche of the transactions, constituting at least 19.6% of Uniper SE shares, will be closed during the first quarter of 2020, as previously announced. Upon closing of the first tranche, Fortum’s ownership in Uniper will increase to 69.5%. The second tranche, a minimum of 1.0% and a maximum of 3.8% of shares, is due to be closed within two months after the first closing.

“We are pleased to have completed the final regulatory step and can now move forward with the closing of our transactions. The businesses of Fortum and Uniper are highly complementary and we share a similar view on the development of the energy sector. This provides an excellent starting point for deep collaboration and strategy alignment,” said Fortum CEO Pekka Lundmark.