The Czech Euro weekly reports today that the Finance Ministry proposes that receivables toward some of the companies in the Unipetrol holding be transferred to the state bail-out agency, the CKA, and subsequently sold together with the state’s 63% stake in Unipetrol to a strategic investor.
Recall that some the liabilities of the Unipetrol subsidiaries could be either transferred from the banks (currently holding the debt) to CKA and subsequently offered with the state’s stake in Unipetrol to an investor, or the banks might decide to auction some of the assets of the subsidiaries to cash-in the debt. This could significantly hurt their operations and complicate the privatization of Unipetrol (the most pressing is the situation in Benzina, a fuel retailer, with a debt of CZK 1.2bn). Therefore, the joint-sell of the equity stake and the receivables seems as the best solution in this situation.
Separately, BorsodChem of Hungary has announced it is interested in Spolana, a Unipetrol subsidiary, the Czech Press Agency reported on Friday.
Jiří Soustružník