Pkn Orlen Group

Polish state oil company (pknorlen). Pknorlen is a major petrochemical producer in Poland, including 90 subsidiaries, involving anwil, a major PVC producer in Poland, zakladyazotowepulawy and zakladytanowiemosicach, a caprolactam producer, and zakladyazotowekedzierzyn, a carbonyl alcohol producer.

Oren company is an enterprise engaged in refining production and selling gasoline, fuel oil and other petroleum products. At present, the company sells gasoline to more and more drivers through 1900 gas stations. It also supplies liquefied natural gas to factories in Poland and asphalt to builders. The asphalt produced by Oren is used to build and maintain Poland's expanding road network.

As oil prices continue to rise, the oil business has brought huge profits to Oren. In the first quarter of this year, Oren's profit reached 102 million US dollars, 12% higher than expected. Over the past five years, Oren's stock price has doubled as much as the Warsaw index, becoming a target for Western investors.

In December 2002, Oren company bought nearly 500 gas stations of BP in northern Germany; in April 2004, Oren company bought 63% shares of Czech union oil company. In the next step, Oren is preparing to merge with Hungary's energy company mol to create a large company with market capital of about 8.5 billion US dollars and sales of 15 billion US dollars.

However, it is not easy to achieve a merger. As the Polish government has long controlled 27.5% of Oren's shares, mol has doubts about the merger with Oren. If an agreement is to be reached, the Hungarian company may ask the Polish government to sell at least half of its shares. This would align the Polish government's stake with the Hungarian government's 12% stake in mol.