Rotch still confident of buying Rafineria Gdanska stake

Rotch Energy has put a brave face on the government's failure on Wednesday to agree to its purchase of a 75% stake in Rafineria Gdanska (RG). Spokesman for the Rotch Group Brian Corrigan said he was confident that the new government, expected to be formed by the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) this month, would approve the transaction. He said Rotch has "not even considered" the possibility of a new government abandoning sales negotiations. The SLD has, however, signalled it would prefer to create a state-controlled national fuel group by forging ties between RG and its larger domestic peer PKN Orlen. Corrigan said that Rotch, which has promised to invest $800 million to upgrade RG's refining assets, was close to finding the initial financial backing it needed to buy the stake and finance some of the planned investment. "We are extremely close to finalizing the $500 million package," he said, and went on, "We have been working on a package of financing against the timetable set by Nafta Polska, which is toward the end of the year, and we are positive we can close the transaction by then." (Reuters)