Speculations on the Unipetrol privatization appeared

According to the Industry Minister M. Urban, there are indications that all three bidders in the Unipetrol privatization (PKN, Shell and Mol) are "intensively interested" in the state's 63% stake, Reuters reported yesterday. He added that the government may discuss the bids at the end of April or beginning of May. Also yesterday, however, the Financial Times cited the National Property Fund's deputy chairman P. Kuta as saying that there are only two interested bidders. According to the FT, Shell is not expected to submit a final bid.

Separately, the Hungarian Mol has reportedly been trying to join PKN Orlen's bid. PKN, however, denied this and said it is bidding individually for Unipetrol. Source: Reuters, Bloomberg.

Jan Hájek, Patria Finance