(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s government has picked UBS Group AG and consultancy firm Roland Berger to advise on a potential major share sale in Uniper SE, people familiar with the matter said, a step further toward privatizing the power utility.
The advisers will help the government explore options to cut its stake in Frankfurt-listed Uniper, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Meanwhile, Uniper has picked Linklaters LLP as its legal adviser for the potential share sale. Any transaction is likely to happen as soon as early next year and more advisers could be added, the people said.
Representatives for Linklaters, Roland Berger, UBS and Uniper declined to comment, while Germany’s Finance Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Germany’s government owns more than 99% of Uniper after a bailout in 2022, when the country’s biggest buyer of Russian gas was at the epicenter of crisis following Russia’s war on Ukraine. The remaining balance still trades on the stock exchange and the company has a market value of about €17.6 billion ($19 billion).
In approving the rescue, the European Commission required Germany to reduce its shareholding in Uniper to not more than 25% plus one share by the end of 2028. Any Uniper share offering could rank among the country’s biggest in recent years given its sizable market value.
Under a claw-back mechanism, Uniper has to pay back some of the money to the state next year, with the sum depending on the company’s 2024 earnings, according to the Finance Ministry. For last year’s financial period, the company already set aside around €2.3 billion.
(Updates Uniper’s comment in third paragraph.)
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