Unipetrol’s spokeswoman informed that Chemopetrol and Unipetrol Rafinerie will be merged into one entity. The process is scheduled to start at the beginning of 2007, with final steps to take in 3Q07. In line with previous plans the production and business segment will be internally separated.
Our view:
Although this reorganization was not planned, it is in-line with Unipetrol’s stragegy announced couple weeks ago. New business model is based on three main points: (i) separation of production from business segment, (ii) creation of specialized centre for shared services and (iii) simplifying the legal structure. As the restructuring process in general is known for some time we see this news as neutral.