Preliminary deadline passes for Poland’s chem privatisation bids

16 September 2009 12:01  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--Industry and financial investors have lodged preliminary bids for the flagship package of Poland's chemical industry privatisation, state restructuring agency Nafta Polska said on Tuesday.

The number of bids registered before the Monday afternoon deadline “met Nafta's expectations”, the agency said without revealing how many offers were submitted. The privatisation documents were picked up by 31 potential investors, it added.

Only Germany's Petro Carbo Chem (PCC) has publicly declared that it is a confirmed bidder for the package, which comprises Ciech, Zaklady Azotowe Tarnow (ZAT) and Zaklady Azotowe Kedzierzyn (ZAK).

Before the deadline, PCC said its bid might only target the acquisition of parts of the package, as some of the assets, particularly those owned by Ciech, were of much higher quality than others.

Wood & Company investment bank said: “While some investors are interested in buying all the assets for sale, others are picky.”

Poland's deputy treasury minister, Adam Leszkiewicz, said that the treasury ministry's priority was to find one buyer for all the holdings, but added that it had not excluded the option of selling the assets to separate financial or strategic investors.

Erste bank has estimated that the winning bidder should expect to pay roughly zloty (Zl) 1.7bn ($600m, €410m) for the whole package.

Nafta Polska said it was now compiling a shortlist of bidders, with privatisation sale contracts expected to be signed by mid-December.

($1 = Zl2.85, €1 = Zl4.16)

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By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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