He added that the situation will be analyzed with the authorities of the owner control department later on Monday.
The Finnish government is involved in the negotiations because it has a 51 percent ownership stake in Fortum. Fortum, on the other hand, owns 78 percent of Uniper’s shares. Saving the ailing energy company could thus cost Finnish taxpayers billions of euros.
“Naturally, our main goal is to enable our key company Fortum to continue its business profitably and secure Finland’s supply security,” he said. “Another equally important goal is to ensure that Finnish taxpayers do not incur unnecessary costs.”
Negotiations take place within considerable time constraints. Uniper revealed about two weeks ago that it suffers daily losses of tens of millions of euros, because due to export restrictions imposed by Russia, it has had to purchase natural gas at a higher price from the spot market. According to the media, the company may become insolvent within a few weeks if not days.
Tuppurainen confirmed on Monday that the parties have days or at most weeks to reach an agreement on the rescue plan.
“Unfortunately, I cannot comment other than that we are trying to find an agreement acceptable to both parties. I still stand by what I said on Thursday after the physical meeting with the representatives of the German government: an agreement should preferably be found in days, weeks at the most,” he told Helsingin Sanomat.
Tuppurainen will speak at the parliament’s trade committee on Tuesday.
Riikka PurraThe chairman of the Basic Finns stated on Monday that the MPs should interrupt their summer vacation to weigh the issue and the board members should present a report on the risks related to Uniper and an estimate of the biggest possible losses.
“How much will taxpayers have to cough up if all the risks materialize?” he asked inside press release.
He added that the Finnish government should also clarify what information it used when it authorized Fortum to grant its eight billion euro support arrangement to Uniper at the beginning of 2022, before the Russian attack on Ukraine.
“Was Uniper’s derivative risks known? And were Fortum’s minority shareholders treated as required by the Limited Liability Companies Act?”
“The support package is more than 10 percent of the state’s total budget. This decision marks the biggest tab opening for tax dollars to bail out a single distressed business since the bailouts of banks in the 1990s, Purra wrote.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page