Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – PKN Orlen, Poland’s listed fuel giant, which at the breakthrough of May and June got control over Czech Unipetrol, has ambitious plans. ‘Unipetrol was just the beginning. Investment opportunities in Central Europe are not big, so we are considering other directions, including Southern and Eastern Europe. There are also countries in the Baltic region’, Cezary Smorszczewski, PKN Orlen deputy CEO said. He added, that preparations for further acquisitions have already started.
PKN Orlen is said to be interested in the following companies: Petrol in Slovenia, NIS in Serbia, MOH in Greece and Tupras in Turkey. It is also interested in Mozejki refinery in Lithuania, whose owner Russian Yukos has troubles. ‘We may engage in those projects if conditions are good’, the deputy CEO said. He refused to confirm that PKN Orlen is taking part in the tender to buy 51-percent stake in Tupras.
In Germany, where PKN Orlen has nearly 500 gas stations bringing losses, it has also investment plans. ‘There are stakes in refineries including Wilhelmshaven, Ruhroil, Schwedt and Leuna to buy’, Cezary Smorszczewski enumerated. As for the gas stations, PKN Orlen has to decide whether to increase its network to achieve the ‘effect of the scale’ or to sell the unprofitable operations. In the Czech Republic, PKN Orlen wants to increase its presence. ‘We are interested in buying more shares in Ceska Rafinerska from one of its present shareholders: Shell, Agip or ConocoPhillips’, the deputy CEO explained. PKN Orlen has 15 percent market share of gas stations market in the Czech Republic and wants to increase it but not to become dominant operator.
‘Instead of further acquisitions, the company should focus on managing what it has. First of all, it must restructure Unipetrol to achieve best return on capital possible. Second, they must quickly decide about their presence in Germany. Then, they should focus on the Polish market, when it is losing the market to foreign companies’, Zbigniew Betlewski, AmerBrokers analyst commented.Poland/Enterprises/Gas and Oil