Mr. Maciej Mataczynski, Chairman of the PKN ORLEN Supervisory Board submitted his resignation from the position yesterday with effect from 9 November 2006. Mr Mataczynski issued a statement in which he named the growing political pressure to remove CEO Mr Chalupec as the reason for his decision. He argues that during the difficult process of acquiring Mazeikiu Nafta the stability of management is needed, therefore he cannot support the removal of the CEO. He also says that the reasons behind the dominant shareholder’s demands towards stepping down of the CEO are not related to evaluation of Mr Igor Chalupec managerial performance.
Our view: The coming EGM on November 30 is expected to vote on new members of the Supervisory Board. Ahead of this, Mr Mataczynski might have felt the lack of political support, which led to his resignation. We generally agree with his opinion that the potential removal of the CEO in the middle of the process to acquire Mazeikiu Nafta, would be a questionable decision and likely mean a new – more precisely renewed – risk factor for the minority owners of PKN Orlen.