DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - Eon manager Michael Lewis will become chairman of the board of the nationalized gas importer Uniper. The supervisory board decided on the personnel in an extraordinary meeting, the Düsseldorf-based group announced on Wednesday. Lewis' contract is valid for five years. It has not yet been determined when exactly he will take up his duties.

The engineer has 30 years of experience in the energy sector. Lewis began his career in 1993 at Powergen in the U.K. and has held various posts at Eon since 2007, becoming chief executive of Eon UK in 2017, according to Germany's largest gas importer.

The previous CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach had resigned from his mandate effective at the end of February. The manager had exercised his special right of termination after the majority takeover by the German government. Uniper was saved from collapse with billions in taxpayers' money. Due to the lack of gas supplies from Russia, the company had to buy the raw material on the market at significantly higher prices in order to fulfill its contracts./lic/DP/jha