PKN Orlen continues to actively seek acquisitions in the region

PKN Orlen continues to search for potential acquisitions in the region, Vice- President Cezary Smorszczewski told a Wednesday conference, though he declined to provide any further details. According to him the company considers potential acquisitions mainly on the Czech and German markets and other locations close to Poland in order to benefit from the geographic premium. The final decision on purchase of Ventspils Nafta will be taken until October 5. PKN is also considering enlarging its economy gas station networks in the Czech Republic and Germany, which operate under the name Benzina and Star, respectively.

Our view:
It seems to us that PKN is looking for the retail assets in the mentioned regions as we do not see any potential refiners assets up for sale. As we wrote earlier, there is a poor explanation for reasons of purchasing Ventspils Nafta, which faces the same supply problems as Mazeikiu. Therefore we would welcome the PKN's refusal to acquire the asset. Until no further details on possible acquisitions we await a neutral reaction from the market.