Unipetrol and Kaucuk agreed to equally split EUR 17.5m fine the European Commission imposed in November last year on the synthetic rubber maker company for breaching competition law.
Our view: With the agreement half of the fine would be paid by Polish chemicals company Dwory, the buyer of Kaucuk, and not fully by Unipetrol. We welcome this agreement from Unipetrol’s perspective. Since the fine amounts to more than 10% of the total selling price Kaucuk, it could have easily blocked the deal. Although we thought that Unipetrol’s negotiating positions have substantially weakened in November due to the fine, it finally managed the disposal, which is in line with the company’s strategic goal to spin-off non-core assets/activities. We expect slight positive market reaction to the news.