Fortum Eyes More M&A With Unspent Uniper Cash

Finland's Fortum, which failed last month in its bid to win majority control of Germany's Uniper, is now considering other acquisitions, Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark said on Thursday.

 

After selling its distribution networks in 2015, state-controlled Fortum was left with about 10 billion euros in cash, much of which the company has said it could use for acquisitions.

 

Fortum received only a 47-percent stake in Uniper after bidding 8.05 billion euros ($9.80 billion) for a 100-percent stake.

 

"We are looking at different (acquisition) opportunities," the company's chief executive said, when asked how Fortum will use the funds that weren't utilised in its Uniper bid.

 

Lundmark declined to identify specific target companies, but said Fortum was looking at a variety of possible acquisitions and that district heating providers were among those being considered.

 

Possible targets will be in the Nordics, Latvia, Poland, Russia and India, all of which are Fortum's core markets, he added.

 

In February, following the outcome of the Uniper bid, Fortum announced acquisitions of three Latvian district heat producers, BK Energija, Sprino and Energy and Communication.

 

($1 = 0.8211 euros)

(Reporting by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos, editing by Terje Solsvik and Elaine Hardcastle)