Vattenfall's purchase of Nuon — deficient preparation within the Government

What happened

Vattenfall bought the Dutch energy company Nuon in 2009 for around SEK 97 billion. The deal led to very large write-downs and became the subject of a review by the Committee on the Constitution.

Who reviewed

The Riksdag Committee on the Constitution (KU) and the Swedish National Audit Office (Riksrevisionen)

Criticism

The Committee on the Constitution criticised the Government's preparation ahead of the deal: documentation, valuation expertise and the formal decision-making process were all criticised. Riksrevisionen pointed to shortcomings in state ownership governance.

Outcome

Stricter requirements for the governance of state-owned companies, clearer documentation requirements in government decisions, and a review of the rules for major transactions in state-owned companies.

Agency's own reply

The Government Offices have stated that the preparation procedures for ownership governance decisions in state-owned companies have been strengthened and that documentation is now handled under a specific procedure.

Updated 2026-07-08

← Back to overview

SVERIGEFAKTA. (2026). SVERIGEFAKTA. Retrieved 2026-10-03, from https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/ku-nuon-2014

SVERIGEFAKTA (2026) SVERIGEFAKTA. Available at: https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/ku-nuon-2014 (Accessed: 2026-10-03).

SVERIGEFAKTA, "SVERIGEFAKTA", https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/ku-nuon-2014 (accessed 2026-10-03).

@misc{sverigefakta_2026_en_agencyoversight_kunuon2014,
  author       = {SVERIGEFAKTA},
  title        = {SVERIGEFAKTA},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/ku-nuon-2014}},
  note         = {Dataset v2026.2, accessed 2026-10-03}
}

https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/ku-nuon-2014