Government says no to Orlen's MOL merger

"When, six months ago, the Ministry analyzed the possibility of a merger, the values of Orlen's and MOL's assets were comparable. It seemed at that point that the fusion would be justified, but not any more," said Soroka, adding that the value of MOL is currently some 30% higher than that of Orlen. However, the Minister's statements lead to a degree of confusion among analysts. Sebastian Słomka of BDM PKO BP, for example, argued that the actual difference is just over 10% and has barely changed over the last six months, while Robert Gwiazdowski, an analyst at the Adam Smith Center, stated his belief that the judgment was purely political. "If the value of Orlen is too low, why has it been forbidden to merge with the Lotos Group?" he asked. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) M.K.