Oil merger put on hold due to Orlen's low net worth

The idea of creating a concern appeared three years ago when the value of the three companies was similar, while now the Polish concern is worth significantly less than the others. "The difference in the value of Orlen and its potential partners amounts to 40-50%. Thus it is not a good time for a merger," stated Orlen's president Igor Chalupec. "If we still want to think about a regional concern, we first have to increase the value of our company," he added. Orlen was left behind its main rivals in central Europe mostly due to the acquisitions it has made. The company bought over 490 petrol stations in Germany, which are not generating profits yet and acquired Czech Unipetrol, which needs to be restructured. Chalupec stated that all three companies are now concentrating on their own acquisitions, but still consider regional consolidation an interesting option. However, "it is highly unlikely that we will start working on the merger this year." (Rzeczpospolita, p.B3; Puls Biznesu, pp.1,10-11) E.B.