With Russia closing the gas pipelines to Europe as a catalyst and using the people of Finland as blackmail material the Finnish government is taking control of company payment structures and grabs 1% of any company that signs up to the possibility of taking a loan from the government at extortionate interest rates.
It’s pretty obvious it’s a safe loan that will be paid back, but the amounts are beyond normal banking facilities to provide.
Energy companies can simply not afford to not sign up for the possibility of the loan (even if they’re not sure they actually need the facility yet) because bankruptcy is not an option if you’re servicing heating for the population and energy for companies to operate on. It’s this need to care for people that the Finnish government – which is supposed to protect the population – is strong arming the energy sector to sign up for these bizarre conditions.
To be sure: the Finnish government take the 1% of the company and control payments whether a loan is taken out or not and even after repayment of the loan.
They have potentially valued the energy sector in Finland at EUR 0,-.
Thoughts: time to buy puts on the Finnish energy sector?
Leave a Reply