DÜSSELDORF/ESSEN (dpa-AFX) - Eon energy manager Michael Lewis is to become chairman of the board of the nationalized energy group Uniper. The supervisory board of Uniper decided this in an extraordinary meeting, the Düsseldorf-based group announced on Wednesday. The formal appointment should take place soon, as soon as the exact starting date has been determined, it said. Lewis' contract will be valid for five years. The term of the previous CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach had ended on Tuesday.

Lewis has 30 years of experience in the energy sector "with a particular focus on renewables," according to Uniper. The 55-year-old Briton began his career in 1993 at Powergen in the United Kingdom. Since 2007, he has held various posts at Eon. He has been CEO of Eon UK since 2017.

Uniper has made an excellent choice with Lewis, said Eon CEO Leonhard Birnbaum. He added that it was regretted that he wanted to leave Eon. "We are currently in constructive talks with Uniper to reach an agreement on a suitable transfer date." A selection process for a successor to Michael Lewis at Eon has already begun, he said. Until the transition is assured, Lewis will continue to run Eon UK's business unchanged.

Until Michael Lewis takes office, the CEO's duties will be assumed by the new chief financial officer, Jutta Dönges, and the person responsible for operations, Holger Kreetz, according to Uniper. Both officially took up their posts on March 1.

Uniper was saved from collapse last year with billions in taxpayers' money. The reason for the difficulties was the lack of gas supplies from Russia. As a result, Germany's biggest gas importer had to buy the raw material on the market at significantly higher prices in order to fulfill its contracts. As a gas wholesaler, Uniper supplies more than 500 municipal utilities, among others. Since the end of the year, the German government has held 99.1 percent of the shares./lic/DP/tih