Gdanska to go to strategic investor
Now that official word has been handed down that Rafineria Gdanska will be sold off to a strategic or financial investor, Nafta Polska said last week the list of likely candidates could be narrowed down to one.
"If we were not sure we'd found somebody, we would not start the (privatization) process," said Marek Foltynocwicz, vice president of Nafta Polska, the state agency handling the sale. Foltynowicz would only elaborate that the first part of the conditional statement had been fulfilled.
When questioned whether Poland's second-largest oil retailer and refinery would go to a strategic or financial investor, Foltynowicz said it could be an "and/or" scenario.
Who that handpicked entity might be is anyone's guess, but the list of potential investors remains small, said Rafal Jankowksi, an analyst with CDM Pekao Securities. It could be Finland's Neste or Norway's Statoil, he said. Both would likely be looking to add 200 gas stations to their distribution networks. But international giants such as BP Amoco and Shell are also not out of the question.
Recent market rumors had BP Amoco and Statoil in the treasury's scope.
As for the privatization timetable, "we want to achieve the target to enter into the negotiations in December," Foltynowicz said, echoing comments made to the press by Nafta's spokesman, Janusz Kwiatkowski.
However, "he didn't know what he was talking about," said Wladyslaw Bartoszweski, director of JP Morgan Polska, Nafta's adviser on the sale. "The government would like to privatize it by the end of the year. That's the goal, but if it's not privatized by the end of the year, it's not a disaster."
The sooner the better, Bartoszewski said, but obstacles could get in the way.
