Kulczyk rumored to have his sights set on top job at Orlen

According to unofficial sources, Jan Kulczyk, one of Poland's most powerful businessmen, has his sights set on becoming the head of the PKN Orlen supervisory board and then merging the Polish oil giant with its Austrian counterpart OMV. Sources claim that Kulczyk was close to winning the chairman's seat last February, but in the end only managed to put two of his people on the Orlen board. Kulczyk admitted in a recent interview that he is aiming to control at least 10% of the Polish oil group and is encouraging Orlen and OMV to join forces. However, this plan largely depends on whether the State Treasury is willing to play along, as it controls around 28% of Orlen's shares. It is unlikely that Orlen and OMV will merge in the short term, as the final stage of Orlen's privatization has been formally postponed until the tender for the sale of a controlling stake in Rafineria Gdanska is decided. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1) T.J.