PPF Investments may take control of Czech Setuza

17 January 2006 14:25  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--PPF Investments said on Tuesday it has acquired an option that could see it take control of Setuza, the dominant producer of biodiesel additives in the Czech Republic.

The deal entails PPF, a subsidiary of the Czech Republic's largest financial group PPF Group, having six months to negotiate the purchase of Cesky Olej – the 90.7% stakeholder in Setuza – including a solution to a Koruna4.1bn ($170.2m/Euro141.5m) long-term debt which the courts have determined Setuza owes to the state’s Czech Consolidation Agency (CKA).

Government officials say Setuza’s basic capital only amounts to Koruna1.5bn. They have threatened to bankrupt the firm if its management does not capitalise the debt by surrendering a key stakeholding.

CKA-commissioned appraisals determined the market value of the Setuza debt was between Koruna439m-465m. PPF Investments would not comment on how much more it might be prepared to pay to buy the debt.

But its executive director Pavel Kuta said in a statement that the firm was now analysing long-term problematic relations between Setuza and the state and alternative solutions that would be acceptable for all sides.

Setuza has committed Koruna1bn into slightly more than tripling its rapeseed oil methyl ester (ROME) biodiesel additive output of 50,000 tonne/year. EU directives demanding 5.75% of Czech fuels should be biofuels by 2010 mean there should be a guaranteed state-subsidised lucrative market for the extra capacity.

By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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