Uniper Deal Is Lehman Moment for European Energy

Germany’s nationalization of gas giant Uniper announced Wednesday, lays bare the seismic ructions in the once-sleepy world of European utilities triggered by the new Cold War with Russia. Investing in the sector will change dramatically.

Berlin said it would inject €8 billion, equivalent to $7.9 billion, in return for new equity at a nominal value of €1.70 a share. It will also buy Finnish utility company Fortum’s majority stake in Uniper at the same rate.