In the light of the upcoming coalition negotiations between the SPD, FDP and the Greens, RWE shareholder Enkraft is increasing the pressure on energy company RWE.

“In Germany there is a clear political and social consensus that the phase-out of lignite must be accelerated.

The executive board of RWE still seems to be lagging behind the momentum, ”said Benedikt Kormaier, managing director of Enkraft Capital at FAZ

Inken Schönauer

Editor in business, responsible for the financial market.

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In particular, it is now RWE's turn to make proposals on how to achieve the goal of phasing out lignite-based power generation as quickly as possible.

RWE boss Markus Krebber has so far rejected more speed on this topic.

In September it became known that Enkraft had acquired more than 500,000 shares in RWE.

This corresponds to a share of less than 1 percent.

The investor is calling for the lignite business to be separated more quickly in order to be able to focus more on renewable energies.

“Like every investor, we offered them to talk about the business strategy,” RWE had said in an initial response to Enkraft.

The investor proposes a solution

Enkraft is not the first investor to call for more vigor in restructuring the group.

For example, the Norwegian state fund ended its involvement with RWE some time ago because coal-based power generation does not meet its ecological criteria.

In an interview published on Saturday with the Börsen-Zeitung, RWE CFO Michael Müller said: “Germany has stipulated by law to get out of coal.

Selling our lignite activities to another operator would not bring you one step closer to this goal. ”The decisive factor for the transformation of RWE is the speed at which the renewables portfolio is being expanded.

From the company's point of view and from a value point of view, a quick exit makes a lot of sense, says Enkraft boss Kormaier.

An RWE that focuses purely on renewable energies will be rated significantly higher than the company in its current structure.

"At the moment, the executive board seems to be advocating for the coal activities to remain with RWE with advanced and not really convincing arguments."

The investor would also have a solution ready: "In the end, the federal and state governments could take control of the remaining activities and the renaturation, either directly or through a foundation, and thus secure the supply but also control the timetable for the cessation of coal-fired power generation."