German energy company Uniper has promoted Tina Hinz as its next general counsel, replacing Marc Merrill in the role.
Hinz has been with Uniper since 2016 and is currently senior vice president for corporate and commercial. She will take up the GC and chief compliance officer role on 1 June, reporting directly to CEO Michael Lewis.
Dusseldorf-headquartered Uniper is a power generating and energy trading business, and is one of Germany’s largest operators of gas storage facilities and hydropower plants. Uniper was nationalised in 2022 amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, with the German government providing a €20bn bailout. Earlier this month, the government said it intends to reprivatise the business.
Hinz said: “Our focus will be on shaping a future-ready legal and compliance function that actively enables Uniper’s strategy as well as the reprivatisation. Together with my team, I am confident that we will deliver the legal and compliance foundation required to achieve Uniper’s ambitions. I would like to thank the executive board for the trust they have placed in me and look forward to the journey ahead.”
Hinz originally joined Uniper as legal counsel, before being promoted to VP of corporate and finance just over a year later and then SVP for international law and global trading and finance in 2020. She was also SVP for corporate and finance and projects for two and a half years before taking up her current role.
During that time she was a key figure in establishing the company’s first €3bn corporate financing framework while also serving as legal lead for the Nord Stream 2 project financing and its LNG terminal in Wilhelmshaven. She was also instrumental in stabilising Uniper during the 2022 energy crisis, guiding negotiations with Fortum and the German federal government.
Prior to joining Uniper, Hinz spent almost a decade at Linklaters across its banking and capital markets, and corporate and M&A practices, working her way up to managing associate.
Merrill, meanwhile, is departing after just over a decade at Uniper, spending the past three years as GC. He was previously president and CEO of Uniper North America, among other roles. Prior to joining Uniper, he was a senior legal counsel and chief compliance officer at E.ON.
Before moving in-house he was an associate at King & Wood Mallesons in Munich, having also earlier spent a year as an associate in the US at Breazeale Sachse and Wilson.
In other European energy-related moves, back in July 2024 Spanish oil and gas heavyweight Cepsa hired Virgina Beltramini as CLO from Atento, replacing Jörg Häring in the role.
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