E.ON CEO urges shareholders to back spin-off plans

E.ON Chief Executive Johannes Teyssen on Wednesday asked shareholders to back the utility's plans to spin off Uniper, the operator of its conventional energy business, ahead of a vote at the annual shareholders meeting.

 

"We intend to undertake the largest transaction of Europe's recent industrial history. It would create nothing less than a new E.ON, a company fully dedicated to the energy future," Teyssen said at the annual shareholders' meeting in Essen, Germany.

 

The spin off comes as German utilities are struggling to cope with multi-year low energy prices and renewables squeezing out conventional plants amid weak demand and small retail energy margins.


(Reporting by Ashutosh Pandey. Editing by Andreas Cremer.)