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Fortum in €8 bln bid for German utility Uniper

5:36pm IST - 01:10

Finnish power utility Fortum will launch an 8.05 billion euro ($9.5 billion) takeover bid for Uniper, the power stations operator and energy trading business partly owned by German utility E.ON. David Pollard reports

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Happy days ... As one year ago - EON floats a 53 per cent stake in its power generation and energy trading unit to form Uniper. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIPER CEO KLAUS SCHAEFER, SAYING: "I think that Uniper really represents a fantastic portfolio of assets, very flexible generation with gas and hydro for example." Assets that have caught the eye of Finnish power utility Fortum. It will offer 22 euros per share for the remaining 47 per cent of Uniper still in EON's hands - it's due for sale next year. And the same to anyone else for their shares - in what could amount to an eight billion euro bid. Sources tell Reuters it mainly wants Uniper's hydropower plants and Swedish nuclear interests. It is though, according to Fortum boss, Pekka Lundmark, "an investment, not a takeover." Words that - so far - have failed to placate Uniper's boss. An unhappy Klaus Schaefer on Monday labelling the bid - the second after a rejected offer in July - as 'hostile'. While raising questions over how it would be funded .... And sounding the alert on, in his view, the lack of any strategic fit.

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Fortum in €8 bln bid for German utility Uniper

5:36pm IST - 01:10