Seven investors have submitted preliminary bids for the state's 63% stake in Unipetrol, Reuters reported yesterday. The list of bidders has not been released. While the number is lower than previously indicated (eleven companies have reportedly asked for the information memorandum), the participation of major regional players in the privatization is most important for the price and privatization outcome, we believe. The Polish PKN Orlen said yesterday that it has submitted a bid and confirmed it had agreed on cooperation with ConocoPhillips and the Czech-based Agrofert in the Unipetrol privatization.
A shortlist of bidders should be announced by the weekend. Binding bids should be submitted by mid-March and the privatization is expected to be completed by the end of March 2004.
Hereunder we present an overview of some of the possible privatization outcomes:
EURm for 63% stake 300 325 350 375 400
CZKm for 63% stake 9,570 10,368 11,165 11,963 12,760
Privatization price CZK/share 83.8 90.8 97.7 104.7 111.7
Buy-out price CZK/share 71.2 77.1 83.1 89.0 94.9
Jan Hájek