By Christoph Steitz and Jan Lopatka
FRANKFURT/PRAGUE (Reuters) -Commodity trader and investment company ResInvest Group said it is in talks to buy Datteln 4, the 1 gigawatt coal-fired power plant Uniper must sell as part of the German utility’s government rescue in 2022.
Datteln 4, located near Dortmund in Germany, is the most valuable asset on Uniper’s list of asset disposals required by the European Union in exchange for approving Berlin’s 13.5 billion euro ($15.9 billion) bailout, and a sale would mark a major step in the group’s restructuring.
Talks over the sale of Datteln 4, which has to be divested by end-2026, could wrap up by the end of the week, two people briefed on the matter said, adding no formal decision had been taken yet.
Uniper declined to comment.
A deal would further expand ResInvest’s portfolio after the company, which is based in the Czech Republic and Switzerland, last year bought two coal-fired power plants in Poland with a combined capacity of 568 megawatts from CEZ.
The group, founded by Czech investor Tomas Novotny, in April also bought a stake in Australian mining group Fenix Resources Limited and invested in dry bulk vessel firm Mira Bulk.
“We can confirm that discussions are currently underway,” a spokesperson for ResInvest said in an e-mailed statement, without providing further details.
A third source familiar with the matter said that a sale could value the 1.052 GW plant, which has been operational since 2020 and supplies power to Deutsche Bahn, at around 1 billion euros, less than the 1.5 billion it cost to build.
Uniper finance chief Jutta Doenges last month said that demand for Datteln 4 was decent and that progress around the sale, which was initiated last year, was expected in the second half of 2025.
($1 = 0.8477 euros)
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Jan Lopatka. Editing by Jane Merriman)
