Finnish top utility Fortum's new chief executive Markus Rauramo said on Wednesday he had set the end of this year as a deadline for developing a strategy for the combined group with Germany's Uniper.

Rauramo said the joint company would have to make choices where to expand and where not to grow, adding that renewables and hydrogen and flexibility in energy production were topics in which he saw momentum.

(Reporting by Anne Kauranen, editing by Louise Heavens)