Finnish power company Fortum is in advanced talks to buy for 3.8 billion euros ($4.6 billion) German utility E.ON's remaining stake in Uniper.
It was told that Fortum was mainly interested in Uniper's hydropower plants and interests in Swedish nuclear power stations, and it was already working with a partner that might take on Uniper's coal-fired plants.
Fortum said it was offering 22 euros a share for E.ON's 46.65 percent stake in Uniper. Uniper shares were up 5.8 percent to 22.26 euros.
Uniper, with total sales of around 67 billion euros in 2016, operates roughly 40 gigawatts of power plants in Europe and Russia. Fortum is focused on carbon-free power generation, mainly in the Nordic region and Russia, and has been looking for a deal since selling its power distribution grids for 9.3 billion euros in 2014 and 2015.
FORTUM CORP is an energy company focused on Nordic and Baltic countries, Poland, Russia, and India. Established in 1998, the company was formed by the merger of Fin national oil company Imatran Voima and Neste Oy. In 2007, Fortum purchased 25.66% of the TGK-1 shares operating in North-West Russia. In 2008, TGK-10, which produces power and heat operating in Central and Northern Russia, has been privatized. In 2016, Fortum acquired Grupa DUON S.A, an electricity and gas sales company in Poland, and Ekokem Corporation, a leading Nordic circular economy company.
E.ON AG is a German company founded in 2000 as an energy company and one of the 30 members of the DAX stock exchange of major German companies. It operates the electrical services provider, which is owned by the world's largest investor. On 1 January 2016, E.ON divided Unile by a new company, protecting traditional energy generation and energy trading operations, retail, distribution and nuclear operations. E.ON sells majority interest in Uniper in September 2016