FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Finnish energy company Fortum 's (HE:FORTUM) Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark had a good first meeting with the boss of takeover target Uniper (DE:UN01), Klaus Schaefer, he told German magazine WirtschaftsWoche.
Fortum in September agreed to buy E.ON's (DE:EONGn) remaining 46.65 percent stake in peer Uniper for 22 euros per share in early 2018, triggering a 8.05 billion euro (£7.1 billion) bid for the whole group under German takeover rules.
Uniper will announce its assessment of the offer next week. It previously said it the offer as hostile, arguing that both companies were not a good strategic fit.
"It was a constructive meeting," WirtschaftsWoche quoted Lundmark as saying, adding the meeting had taken place over the last weekend in Duesseldorf, where Uniper is based.
"We can now start a dialogue with Uniper about how to work together in the future."
Uniper confirmed that a first meeting between the two executives had taken place. "We have always said that we are ready to talk once a full offer is on the table," a spokesman for the group said.