-- Germany has begun the process of privatizing Gazprom Germania, the German division of Gazprom which the country seized following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
The company's Chief Executive Egbert Laege told the FT that it planned to raise 1.5 billion to 2 billion euros ($1.76-$2.35 billion) through a capital increase and invest the funds in the business's infrastructure assets.
The company has been renamed Sefe which stands for Securing Energy for Europe. Its assets include gas storage and pipelines as well as a trading business in the UK known as Gazprom Marketing & Trading.
European Commission rules state that the German government, which now controls 100% of the business, must sell at least 75% of that stake by the end of 2028, the article said.
The Iran war had only increased the incentives to privatize the assets, Laege told FT. He said that Sefe was in discussion with the government over whether it has preferences or restrictions with regards to who is eligible to buy a stake in the company.
After the initial capital increase, the government will seek to sell more of its shares in another separate process whose form has not yet been chosen, Laege said. He said the short timeframe for this could rule out an initial public offering, but said that was up to the government.
The FT noted that some industry observers had speculated that the company's assets could be split up and sold separately. Others have suggested that Sefe could be merged with gas importer Uniper which was nationalized in 2022 after the loss of Russian gas exports to Europe.
Sefe is certain to return its regulated assets and trading operations which complement each other, Laege said.
Sefe could not be reached bywith a request for comment.
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