Investors vote on historic bailout
Uniper avoided insolvency by turning to state
Uniper CEO have access to 2.5 bln eur of funds

FRANKFURTDUESSELDORF, Dec 19 Reuters Germany39;s Uniper called on Monday for shareholders to approve a bailout and nationalisation that will cost the government more than 50 billion euros 53 billion, warning that it will otherwise have to consider insolvency.

Chief Executive KlausDieter Maubach told a virtual extraordinary shareholder meeting that the disarray caused by the loss of gas supplies from Russia could leave shareholders with nothing if they did not accept German proposal.

Russia39;s Gazprom was once Uniper39;s biggest supplier of gas, but a big drop in deliveries after Moscow39;s invasion of Ukraine forced the German gas importer to buy gas elsewhere at much higher prices to honour its contracts.

Uniper39;s investors will vote on two main measures at Monday39;s meeting, an 8 billion euro capital injection by the German state and allowing a further injection of up to 25 billion euros by Berlin.

The measures are indispensable for this company39;s future, Maubach said. If approval is not granted, we would have to review very critically the socalled going concern forecast for our company, he added.

In the Management Board39;s view, a possible insolvency could lead to a complete loss for shareholders.

Maubach said Uniper currently had access to around 2.5 billion euros of funds.

If the bailout is approved, the German government…