(Oil Price) – Apollo Global Management has submitted a non-binding bid for German energy giant Uniper, joining some of Europe’s biggest energy and investment groups in a sale that could value Germany’s largest gas importer at around €10 billion ($11.6 billion), Reuters reported.Germany took control of Uniper through a €13.5 billion bailout in 2022 after Russia slashed pipeline gas deliveries and the company was forced to replace contracted Russian supplies at much higher market prices. Berlin currently owns 99.12% of the company.Apollo faces substantial competition. Equinor, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EPH, a consortium of Brookfield and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and a partnership between RWE and KKR have also submitted bids, according to Reuters. Berlin and its advisers are expected to decide which bidders advance to the next round within weeks.Uniper is one of Europe’s largest gas and LNG traders and supplies around 190 TWh of gas annually in Germany. It also holds 57 TWh of LNG regasification capacity bookings and operates 7.2 billion cubic meters of underground gas storage capacity, including 5.9 bcm in Germany.Those assets have become a key element of Germany’s gas supply system since the country lost most of its Russian pipeline supplies. Uniper terminated its long term gas supply contracts with Gazprom Export in 2024 and has rebuilt its supply portfolio around other sources, including long-term LNG contracts with suppliers in the U.S. and Australia.Berlin is required to reduce its Uniper stake under the terms of the state aid approved during the energy crisis. The European Commission required Germany to cut its ownership to no more than 25% plus one share by the end of 2028.Germany is considering both a direct sale and a return of Uniper shares to the stock market. Under the current sale process, Berlin could sell as much as 74.12% of the company while retaining the 25% plus one share stake required under the EU agreement.Berlin and its advisers are expected to narrow the field within weeks. The bidders are competing for a company Germany spent €13.5 billion rescuing four years ago and that now supplies around 190 TWh of gas annually in Germany, with 5.9 bcm of domestic storage capacity.By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com