Orlen angers Unipetrol shareholders, loses voting rights

Orlen, which has a 63% stake in Unipetrol, initially offered to buy all outstanding shares of Unipetrol and its two subsidiaries, but the offer was rejected by the Czech securities and exchange commission. Consequently, the Polish refiner did not meet the deadline. The commission officially vetoed Orlen's offer due to some inconsistencies in the method of price calculation, but the actual reason was Orlen's attempt to buy shares well below market prices. Orlen offered CSK103 per share, while the market value was estimated at CSK143.75. Similarly, they wanted to pay CSK701 and CSK100, for shares in subsidiaries when the actual prices were respectively CSK1300 and CSK180. This made Unipetrol's minority shareholders' blood boil, and they are now attempting to call a general shareholders meeting at which they hope to push some of the representatives of PKN Orlen off the board. Dawid Piekarz, PKN Orlen's spokesperson, said he did not know anything about Czech minority shareholders' attempts to call the meeting. "If it is to take place, we will ask the Czech securities and exchange commission to give us its permission to regain voting rights in Unipetrol." - adds Piekarz. (Parkiet, p.1) J.J.