According to the National Property Fund, sixteen companies expressed an interest in the state's 63% stake in Unipetrol by Monday and the privatization committee has asked 5 of them to submit additional documents, the Czech Press Agency reported yesterday. The deadline for preliminary bids is January 12, a shortlist of bidders should be announced on January 15-16, and the Unipetrol privatization is expected to be completed by the end of March 2004.
Among companies that have reportedly expressed an interest in Unipetrol are: PKN Orlen/Agrofert, MOL, BorsodChem of Hungary, ENI, Shell, KazMunaiGaz and Kazakhan Investment Company of the Kazakh Republic, the Czech-Slovak financial group Penta, Lobsters, Romar-Oil, Bohemian Best, the Czech-based Vitkovice R&D, and a consortium of Raiffeisenbank CEE Private Equity Fund and AIG.
Jan Hájek