Fortum's Uniper Losses Cost Finnish Households €1,700 Each and Were Foreseeable

Finnish state-owned energy utility Fortum has recorded €5.8 billion in accounting losses from its investment in German utility Uniper, which it sold to the German government in September 2022. IEEFA argues the losses were foreseeable given Fortum's excessive concentration of assets in Russia and calls for stronger government oversight of major strategic investments by state-owned enterprises.

Fortum, 51.2% owned by the Finnish government, acquired Uniper — a German utility with significant coal and gas assets in Germany and Russia — for €7.2 billion, the largest acquisition in Fortum's history. When Russia cut gas exports to the European Union following the invasion of Ukraine, Uniper faced bankruptcy and Fortum ultimately sold it to the German state for a €5.8 billion loss. The accounting loss equates to approximately €1,700 per Finnish tax household, or enough to fund roughly 3 gigawatts of onshore wind capacity.

IEEFA argues that Fortum's trajectory after 2017 represented a major strategic failure. With substantial financial resources available during that period, the company had the opportunity to become a leading European renewable energy player. Instead, it doubled down on coal and gas through the Uniper acquisition at a time when geopolitical risks in Russia were already well-documented — Russia's 2008 aggression against Georgia and the 2014 Crimea annexation had both drawn international criticism. The losses highlight the financial risks that state-owned utilities face when corporate governance fails to align with long-term energy transition and geopolitical realities.

IEEFA is calling for stronger checks on executive management decisions at state-owned utilities, recommending that major strategic investments require explicit approval from government and parliamentary authorities to protect long-term taxpayer interests. The case carries lessons for India, where several state-owned energy enterprises manage large capital deployments across fossil fuel and transition assets. The Finnish parliament and shareholders are expected to scrutinise Fortum's governance processes in the wake of the losses.

Key figure — €5.8 billion — Fortum's accounting loss from the Uniper sale to the German government in 2022