Czech MFDnes newspaper reports today that the IOC consortium (Agip, Shell, Conoco), the Hungarian MOL, the British Rotch Energy Limited, and a consortium of the Austrian OMV and Czech Agrofert have been short-listed for the final stage of the Unipetrol privatization tender. MFDnes also reports that preliminary bids are around CZK 10 bil. each (CZK 87.5 per share). While some may have expected somewhat higher bids, we believe that the majority opinion was quite conservative, therefore the news is neutral-to-marginally positive.
(Jiri Soustruznik)