Two Russian Companies, Funds, MOL Eye Poland's Lotos -Sources
March 17 2011 - 12:26PM
Dow Jones News
Russia's OAO Gazprom Neft (SIBN.RS) and TNK-BP Holdings
(TNBP.RS), Hungary's MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU), Polish PGNiG SA (PGN.WA),
as well as a few private equity funds are among suitors interested
in Poland's second-largest refinery Grupa Lotos SA (LTS.WA), two
people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires
Thursday.
Poland's Treasury Ministry holds a 53.19% stake in Gdansk-based
Grupa Lotos and wants to sell its entire stake to strategic
investors as part of a privatization plan aimed at plugging the
country's budget gap.
The private equity funds may bid in consortia with each other or
with strategic investors, they said. The potential consortium
configurations are "still in flux," one of the people said.
A third person familiar with the matter said the non-strategic
investors might not be private equity funds in the classic sense.
"They may be sovereign or quasi-sovereign wealth funds from the
middle east."
The Polish treasury ministry has moved back the deadline for
non-binding bids for a majority stake in Lotos twice already, most
recently giving investors until April 29 to submit their bids.
"The delay was based on feedback from investors," one of the
people said. "They are trying to put together financing packages
and need more time because of the demanding purchase
conditions."
MOL and Gazprom Neft didn't respond to requests for comment.
TNK-BP Managing Director Maksim Barski told a news conference on
March 1 that his company was interested in Lotos. PGNiG wasn't
immeditely available for comment.
Poland's Treasury is being advised on the sale by JP Morgan
Chase & Co (JPM) and UBS SA (UBS), according to the ministry's
website.
-By Marynia Kruk, Dow Jones Newswires; +48 22 447-2431;
marynia.kruk@dowjones.com
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