Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer PKN Orlen SA said last week it had closed a transaction to buy all of the remaining shares in its Czech subsidiary Unipetrol from minority shareholders. As of Oct. 1, PKN Orlen had taken full ownership of Unipetrol shares.
The Polish group secured clearance from the Czech National Bank in May for the purchase of all Unipetrol shares held by minority shareholders, representing approximately 5.97 percent of the Czech company’s share capital, at a proposed price of CZK380 per share (GM May 25, p. 31).
PKN Orlen already owned 94.03 percent of Unipetrol prior to the buyout, having increased its equity interest from 62.9 percent this past March after launching a voluntary offer for additional shares in the Czech company last December (GM March 2, p. 31; Dec. 15, 2017).
Unipetrol is the largest refining and petrochemical group in the Czech Republic. Its core asset is its Litvínov petrochemical operations – now the construction site for a new 270,000 mt/y polyethylene unit. The company produces ammonia at the Litvínov site.
It is also the sole manufacturer of PVC and caprolactam on the Czech market through a wholly owned subsidiary, Spolana as, acquired in June 2016. Spolana late last year indicated its plans to also start selling granular ammonium sulfate (AS) for agricultural use (GM Dec. 22, 2017).