FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Germany’s Sefe, the former Gazprom division nationalised during Europe’s energy crisis, has repaid 450 million euros ($510 million) in state aid received as part of its 6.3-billion-euro bailout, it said on Friday.
The news means that the German government has now recouped nearly a fifth of the close to 20 billion euros it spent to bail out its two biggest casualties of the European energy crisis, Sefe and larger peer Uniper.
Sefe said the latest instalment took the total amount of aid repaid so far to more than 700 million euros.
“This not only benefits German taxpayers, but also shows that we have successfully navigated the crisis,” its finance chief Christian Ohlms said. “Today, we are ideally positioned to provide our German and European customers with a secure and reliable supply of affordable energy.”
Under European Union requirements, Berlin must reduce its stake in Sefe to no more than 25% plus one share by 2028, similar to Uniper, which also had to be bailed out after Russia suspended gas supplies in 2022.
Uniper, which received a 13.5 billion euro bailout, has so far repaid 3.1 billion euros, its CEO said on Friday in excerpts of a speech to be given at the group’s annual general meeting on May 8.
($1 = 0.8827 euros)
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz. Editing by Thomas Seythal and Mark Potter)
