FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Activist investor Enkraft is demanding a shareholder vote to force RWE to prepare a spin-off of its brown coal unit at the utility’s next annual general meeting (AGM) in April, according to a filing made public on Tuesday.
Enkraft, which owns a stake in RWE that is large enough to request items be put on the AGM’s agenda, has for months lobbied for such a move, and while there is general consensus about the necessity to phase out coal, both sides differ over strategy.
According to the filing, Enkraft is asking management to “prepare draft agreements or plans corresponding reports for the lawful spin-off” of RWE’s subsidiary RWE Power AG, which includes the utility’s brown coal activities.
RWE’s next AGM is scheduled for April 28.
If approved, the documents should then be submitted at the latest by the ordinary AGM – which would take place in 2023 – for “adoption of a resolution,” the filing said.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff; Editing by Miranda Murray)
