The European Commission has demanded that German gas importer Uniper offload its Dutch business to get regulatory approval for a rescue deal, the German daily newspaper Handelsblatt reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Commission has set itself a deadline of December 16 to decide on whether to approve Germany’s bailout of the troubled energy company, its biggest gas trader which nearly collapsed after Russia stopped supply.
Uniper’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on the bailout at an extraordinary shareholder meeting on December 19.
Uniper’s activities in the Netherlands mainly consist of its Maasvlakte MPP 3 hard coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 1.07 gigawatt (GW). It also has several smaller gas-fired plants there with a combined capacity of 534 megawatts (MW).
Uniper and Germany’s Economy Ministry both declined to comment. The European Commission had no immediate comment.
