Nat. Gas Sets Path of Price Increases When German utility Uniper SE on Monday requested another 4 billion euros in bailout loans, it didn’t mention some key beneficiaries of the move: its banks. More than two dozen lenders including BNP Paribas SA , Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have jointly committed 1.8 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to the company, which would be in more serious trouble if it weren’t for government intervention. Uniper has an investment grade credit rating only because the rating providers expect Berlin will continue to support it. Uniper, whose total government support could swell to over 20 billion euros with the latest request, helps explain why the region’s banks are so far sanguine about risks to their loan books. Even as Europe’s energy crisis worsened last quarter, provisions for bad loans declined with executives signaling they expect taxpayers to pick up […]

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