Saudi Aramco will buy shares in the Lotos refinery and take over part of the aviation fuel business, Hungarian MOL will take over 417 stations of the concern and the Polish company Unimot will acquire a company Lotos Terminale. These transactions were a condition for obtaining the approval of the European Commission for the merger of the Polish companies Orlen and Lotos. At the same time, Orlen will purchase 185 MOL stations in Hungary and Slovakia.
Daniel Obajtek, the president of PKN Orlen admits in Twitter that it is a historic moment. “We are implementing a project that was mentioned by our predecessors, but they lacked courage and determination. We form the strongest fuel and energy concern in this part of Europe. The merger of PKN Orlen and the Lotos Group is a gigantic opportunity for the development of Poland.
According to the agreements concluded on January 12, the MOL Group will take over 417 petrol stations in Poland. Thus, it will be the third player on the Polish retail fuel sales market. The value of the transaction was assessed as $ 610 million. At the same time, MOL will sell 185 fuel stations, including 144 located in Hungary and 41 in Slovakia to PKN Orlen, for the amount of USD 259 million.
A preliminary agreement was also signed with Unimot Investments from the Unimot Group, which will take over 100% of Lotos Terminale shares, thus acquiring 9 fuel terminals with a total capacity of 350,000 m3 and asphalt production plants in Jasło and Czechowice-Dziedzice.
Saudi Aramco will take over 30% of shares in LOTOS Asfalt Ltd for approx. PLN 1.15 billion including a refinery located in Gdańsk. The Saudis will also acquire all the shares of Grupa Lotos in the Lotos-Air BP joint venture.
It is important to recall, that parallel to the merger process with Grupa Lotos, there is ongoing work, involving the acquisition of the PGNiG Group by PKN ORLEN. The goal is to create an organization with total annual revenues of approx. PLN 200 billion and a total, diversified operating profit EBITDA, estimated at approx. PLN 20 billion. In terms of capitalization and achieved financial results, the future Polish multi-energy concern will equal or even exceed the potential of European competitors.
Adrian Andrzejewski