As MOL of Hungary was declared the winner of the INA privatization tender in Croatia, OMV of Austria, which was a bidder for INA, may now choose to focus on bidding for the 63% stake in Unipetrol offered by the Czech state, in order to offset the increasing influence of MOL in the region. This, together with the recent cancellation of the privatization of the Polish refinery Lotos (formerly Rafineria Gdanska) to a PKN Orlen/Rotch Energy consortium, increases the likelihood of aggressive bidding for Unipetrol (PKN Orlen also strives to be a regional leader in the refinery/petrochemical sector) and, subsequently, an attractive buyout price for Unipetrol’s minority shareholders (the buyout price must be 85% of the privatization price).
The table below summarizes the key calculations regarding the possible buyout price:
USD mil. per 63% state’s stake 300 350 400 450
CZK mil. per 63% state’s stake 8,100 9,450 10,800 12,150
CZK/share privatization price 70.90 82.72 94.54 106.35
CZK/share buyout price 60.27 70.31 80.36 90.40
Jiří Soustružník