Fortum to get near majority ownership of Uniper

Finnish energy giant Fortum is getting at least 46 percent ownership in the German energy company Uniper, Fortum announced on Tuesday in a statement.

Fortum said it signed a deal with E.ON to acquire about 46 percent share of Uniper stock.

In line with German law, Fortum is making a tender to all Uniper shareholders at 22 euros (26 U.S. dollars) per share. At this rate, the value of the 46 percent ownership would be 3.76 billion euros out of the whole Uniper stock of 8.05 billion euros, Finnish News Agency reported.

Fortum underlined that its aim is to acquire only the E.ON portion of the stock capital.

However, based on their offer to all shareholders, the ownership by Fortum may exceed 50 percent of Uniper. Fortum CEO Pekka Lundmark said in a press release on Tuesday Fortum is "convinced its offer would be of interest to all other shareholders of Uniper".

As the first reports about a possible Fortum interest in the E.ON ownership of Uniper circulated last week, Uniper CEO Klaus Schafer described the intentions of Fortum as "an unsolicited takeover offer" and said it is not in line with the strategies of Uniper.

Fortum CEO Lundmark told the media last week that Fortum had suggested to Uniper earlier in the summer that Fortum and Uniper could combine their businesses, but Uniper had rejected the offer.

Lundmark said Fortum is not planning to conquer Uniper. He said the plan is "an investment, not a takeover".

Uniper operates in Europe, Russia and several other market areas globally. It has 13,000 employees.

The state of Finland is the majority owner of Fortum. Mika Lintila, the Minister for Economic Development, said last week Finland has a positive attitude towards the purchase of Uniper shares by Fortum. Lintia said he was not aware of "any particular risks that would be associated with the purchase".