The German government has created a secret holding company, with which it plans to nationalize the former German subsidiary of Gazprom at some point in the future, according to a report by Welt am Sonntag on Sunday.

Presently managed by the German Federal Grid Agency, Gazprom Germania has already had its name changed to Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE). The New holding company was given a very similar name, Securing Energy for Europe Holding GmbH (SEEHG).

The new holding company has appointed two lawyers from the CMS Hasche Sigle law firm as managing directors.

Gazprom Germania previously operated some of Germany’s largest natural gas storage facilities, as a local subsidiary of Russian state energy giant Gazprom. When the Russian military action in Ukraine began, Germany seized the local subsidiary as part of the Western-levied sanctions on the Russian nation.

Bloomberg news had reported in June that the German government had plans to spend up to €10 billion ($10.4 billion) to run Gazprom Germania, which the nation’s energy regulator had officially seized, as a state-run entity operated for the benefit of the people in Germany and Europe.

The cash infusion was necessary as once the company had been seized, Gazprom immediately stopped all supply of gas to it, a supply which had been flowing at a rate of about 10 billion cubic meters per day. Russia also immediately slapped its own sanctions on Gazprom Germania, and the company was further shunned by trading partners and encountered liquidity problems, which had risked the collapse of key gas retailers in both Germany and the UK, which it previously supplied.

The Economy Ministry of Germany said that the holding company was established as a precautionary measure in the event it was decided to engage in any restructuring of Gazprom Germania.

A spokesperson for the ministry said to Welt am Sonntag, “It is a purely precautionary institution that currently only exists as a corporate law shell.”