Resend - Exclusive Report - Sources: Brookfield and CPPIB consortium enters the next round of Uniper sale

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Christoph Steitz

Reuters Frankfurt, November 14 - According to three sources familiar with the matter, a consortium formed by Brookfield and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is among the bidders that has successfully advanced to the next round in the sale of German state-owned utility Uniper UN0k.DE.

Bidding parties including Norway's Equinor EQNR.OL, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky's EPH, and a consortium of KKR KKR.N and RWE RWEG.DE, submitted non-binding offers for Uniper in September and are currently awaiting feedback from the German government.

Another source said the bidders learned on Friday they would progress to the next round, which will require binding offers.

Two of the sources said Equinor remains in the bidding, while Bloomberg reported that UK-based Centrica CNA.L has also moved to the next stage.

One of the sources said EPH and the KKR-RWE consortium have exited the bidding process.

Berlin is currently seeking to reduce its holding in Uniper to a "blocking minority" stake, either by selling shares to strategic or financial investors or by a so-called "secondary IPO" — the deal could be valued at up to 14 billion euros ($15.4 billion) including net cash.

As Germany's largest importer of natural gas, the energy firm was on the verge of collapse after its former main supplier, Gazprom GAZP.MM, halted supplies due to the war in Ukraine. In 2022, the German government injected 13.5 billion euros to rescue its operations.

The German finance ministry (which oversees Berlin's 99.12% stake in Uniper), as well as Brookfield (BN.TO, BAM.N), the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Equinor, KKR, RWE, and Centrica declined to comment.

EPH has not yet commented.

(1 US dollar = 0.9065 euro)

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