PKN Orlen takes share in Mazeikiu Nafta

  • 2007-01-17
  • By TBT staff
VILNIUS - Poland's PKN Orlen purchased 5.06 percent in Mazeikiu Nafta, the Baltics' only oil refinery, via a tender offer than closed on Jan. 15. The purchase brings its total stake in the refinery to 89.26 percent.

PKN Orlen bought 39.87 million shares at a price of 10.25 litas (3 euros) per share, for a total 118 million euros.
In addition, the Polish company may have purchased more shares on the open market.
PKN Orlen, together with the government, now own a combined 99.2 percent of Mazeikiu Nafta, Lithuania's largest corporation. According to Lithuanian law, this gives them the right to force out remaining shareholders by offering them a fair price for the shares. It is unclear whether the two sides will take that step.

Meanwhile, the company announced on Jan. 11 that it would not incur any losses as a result of a cessation of deliveries of Russian crude after Moscow stopped pumping crude though the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline system.
The company also denied reports in the Russian media that it had failed to meet its obligations to Yukos International pursuant to the purchase agreement signed last May.

Russian media have claimed that the money paid by PKN Orlen for Yukos' 53.7 percent stake in PKN Orlen has not reached creditors.
"The money went into the designated account, everyone can verify that," Dawid Piekarz, PKN Orlen's spokesman, was quoted by the Respublika paper as saying.

PKN Orlen paid $1.5 billion for Yukos International's stake in Mazeikiu Nafta. It also paid $853 million for a 30.6 percent stake owned by the government.