Major shareholders of Uniper

The federal government of Germany has been the majority shareholder in Uniper since December 2022 with a stake of 99.12%.

This shareholder structure is the result of a financial stabilisation package to save Uniper due to the unjustified failure of Russian gas deliveries. Uniper and the former majority shareholder Fortum agreed on this with the German government on 21 September 2022.

The federal government's stake remains unchanged to this day. The remaining 0.88% of Uniper shares are mainly held by private minority shareholders.

At the beginning of 2024, 412,826,161 shares were held by the federal government. Around 190,000 external shareholders held 3,649,171 shares.

The number of shares had been significantly reduced as a result of a 20:1 capital reduction approved by an Extraordinary General Meeting in December 2023, without affecting the ownership structure between majority and minority shareholders.

For further information on the shareholder structure in the context of reported changes in shares pursuant to sections 33 et seq. German Securities Trading Act (WpHG), see also under: Voting Rights Notifications.

Shareholder structure: Investors

Federal Republic of Germany

99.12%

Banks & Institutional investors

0.29%

Retail investors

0.59%

Sources: Uniper share register
As of 29 February 2024

 

Shareholder structure: Investors by country/region

Germany

99.8%

Europe

0.1%

Rest of World

0.1%

Sources: Uniper share register
As of 29 February 2024

History 

2016 – E.ON as major shareholder

After Uniper Group's split from E.ON was registered in E.ON's commercial register on September 9, E.ON shareholders were allotted 53.35% of Uniper shares. For every ten shares of E.ON SE owned, shareholders have received one additional registered no-par-value share of Uniper SE. Accordingly, the broad-based free float was 46.65%.

The shares were traded for the first time on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with an opening price of €10.015 as of September 12, 2016.

2018 – Fortum new major shareholder

E.ON SE ceased to be a major shareholder in 2018. On January 8, 2018, E.ON SE exercised its right to tender its 46.65% stake in Uniper SE as part of Fortum Deutschland SE’s takeover offer dated November 7, 2017. After the further acceptance period expired, Fortum Deutschland SE announced on February 7, 2018, that the offer had been accepted by Uniper shareholders holding a total of 172,439,375 shares. This corresponded to around 47.12% of the share capital and voting rights of Uniper SE.

On June 26, 2018, Fortum Deutschland SE announced that the takeover offer had been completed. The takeover was subject to approval in various jurisdictions, among others subject to the approval of the Russian regulatory authorities.

The share of voting rights in Uniper SE attributable to Fortum Oyj amounted to 49.99% as of December 31, 2018.

Other major shareholders at the end of 2018: According to a voting rights notification, Paul E. Singer (Elliot Management) and companies controlled by him held 17.84% of the voting rights in Uniper SE on December 31, 2018 (3.84% of which were directly held) According to shareholder identification, Asset Manager Knight Vinke was another major shareholder of Uniper at the end of 2018 with a stake of more than 5%.

2019 – Fortum agreed acquisition of majority stake

On October 8, 2019, the Republic of Finland, majority owner of the energy company Fortum Oyj, informed that Fortum had secured additional 23.41% of its voting rights by means of instruments. Fortum had previously informed the public that it had entered into agreements with Elliott and Knight Vinke to acquire more than 20.5% of Uniper shares.

2020 – Fortum new majority shareholder

On March 26, 2020, Fortum announced to have closed the first tranche of the agreement to purchase the Uniper shares held by Elliott Management Corporation and its affiliates and Knight Vinke Energy Advisors Limited and its affiliates. Fortum raised its stake from 49.99% to 69.56% of the shares and voting rights in Uniper.

On May 08, 2020, the second and final tranche of the agreement to purchase the remaining Uniper SE shares held by Elliott Management Corporation and its affiliates was closed. The 3.84 % share purchase increased Fortum’s holding to 73.4% of the shares and voting rights in Uniper.

After the main shareholder Fortum exceeded the threshold of 75% as of August 17, 2020, a stake in Uniper of 76.06 % was recorded as of year-end 2020.

In the course of 2021, this share was slightly increased. According to the information available to Uniper, Fortum had a shareholding of 77.96 % as of the balance sheet date on December 31, 2021.

In the autumn of 2022, Fortum's shareholding was 80.06% or 292,976,597 shares.

2022 – German State replaces Fortum

In September 2022, Uniper and Fortum had agreed with the German government on a financial stabilization package for Uniper. Among other things, this provided in a bilateral agreement between the federal government and Fortum for the acquisition of the whole Uniper share package at a price of €1.70 per share. This transaction was implemented on December 21, 2022.

The most important element was the implementation of authorized capital measures, which were approved by an Extraordinary General Meeting on 19 December 2022. The capital measures were executed on December 21, 2022.

This enabled the federal government to acquire a direct equity stake in Uniper SE totaling €13.5 billion. The share capital of Uniper SE was increased from €622.132 million or 365,960,000 shares to a total of €14,160.160 million or 8,329,506,651 shares. The new shares were fully subscribed by the German government, excluding subscription rights for minority shareholders. As part of the capital increase, Fortum sold its entire Uniper share package to the federal government at an agreed price of €1.70 per share.

This resulted in a participation of the German government at year-end 2022 of 99.12% or 8,256,523,248 shares.

 

 

Our global presence

We continue to strengthen our presence in key markets, develop innovative solutions and acquire companies in prioritized areas. Uniper solutions are sold to over 100 countries and we currently operate in over 40 countries.