RWE shareholders reject brown coal spin-off

Shareholders in RWE AG (ETR:RWE) on Thursday rejected a motion for a rapid spin-off of the German group's brown coal operations that was submitted by activist investor Enkraft Capital GmbH.

The proposal was put to a vote at the annual general meeting and was rejected by the vast majority of 97.56%, RWE has said.

Enkraft, which is a significant minority investor in the group, has been pushing for a separation of the lignite business to increase value but has faced opposition from the energy group's management. As a response to the growing pressure, RWE's chief executive Markus Krebber said in his speech to the shareholders that such a move would not accelerate the German power major's sustainability strategy and would create incalculable risks for the group and its shareholders.

RWE's coal business is bundled in a unit with the nuclear business and is not part of the group's core operations which include all renewable energy activities as well as supply and trading. The group is planning to invest EUR 50 billion (USD 52.4bn) gross by the end of the decade in a bid to double its net green energy generation capacity to 50 GW.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.049)

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