RWE & Fortum: Uniper sale process - Our take on the reported expressions of interest

Research evidence excerpt

RWE & Fortum: Uniper sale process - Our take on the reported expressions of interest

19 June 2026

European Utilities & Clean Energy

RWE & Fortum: Uniper sale process - Our take on the reported

expressions of interest

In this note we consider the high-level implications of the ongoing Uniper sale process on Deepa Venkateswaran, ACA

+44 20 7676 6990 RWE and Fortum, who are reported to have expressed an interest in participating.

deepa.venkateswaran@bernsteinsg.com

Uniper sale process: The German Government has launched a process for privatisation

Rory Graham-Watson of Uniper and will follow a dual track process of direct sale and IPO. Regarding the direct

+44 20 7676 7093 sale option, the Government solicited expressions of interest (by June 12th) for a ~75% rory.graham-watson@bernsteinsg.com

stake sale in Uniper. Bloomberg reports that the process has drawn interest from around

Specialist Sales 10 Bidders including KKR, Jera, CDPQ, Equinor, RWE, Brookfield in consortium with CPPIB,

EPH & TotalEnergies. Furthermore, bids for all or parts of the company were handed in by

Gareth Williams Vattenfall and Fortum - we believe these latter bids would only be for Uniper’s Swedish

+44 20 7762 5256

gareth.b.williams@bernsteinsg.com hydro and nuclear assets.

RWE: While Uniper’s hydro assets in Germany could be of interest to RWE, the rest of

the Uniper portfolio does not make much strategic sense for the company and would

introduce more volatility (from midstream) and uncontracted earnings (from Swedish

nuclear, hydro and German gas) into the mix. A full acquisition could also raise competition

concerns, particularly in UK, where the combined entity could represent a third of the UK’s

gas fleet. In Germany, if RWE and Uniper were both to be successful in their aspirations