MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polish biggest oil refiner PKN Orlen will buy the remaining 5.97 percent in Czech unit Unipetrol from minority shareholders for 380 crowns per share to complete its takeover and delist the unit from the Prague bourse, reported Reuters.
PKN, which owns 94.03 percent in Unipetrol, said late Tuesday it will ask the Czech central bank to approve the buyout. The oil refiner expects the transaction to be completed by this year-end.
PKN had increased its stake in Unipetrol earlier this year via a voluntary tender, offering 380 crowns per each share in the Czech downstream oil group, which valued the transaction at around 3.5 billion zlotys (USD960.35 million).
As MRC informed before, in late December 2017, PKN Orlen offered 380 crowns for each remaining share in its Czech downstream oil unit Unipetrol. The offer run until Jan. 30, 2017, and values Unipetrol at 68.9 B crowns (USD3.2 B). Unipetrol’s largest minority shareholder said a week earlier it would sell its 20% stake.
Unipetrol , a.s. is a group of companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005 Unipetrol became a part of the PKN ORLEN Group, the largest oil processor in Central Europe. The UNIPETROL Group is oriented mostly towards oil processing, fuel distribution and petrochemical production. In all of these business areas the Unipetrol Group is among the key players both in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The Group ranks among the leading firms in the Czech Republic in terms of its revenues, and employs almost 4,000 people.
MRC