EU Commission green-lights Orlen's takeover of Lotos Grupa

"TPKN ORLEN S.A. ('PKN ORLEN', 'Company') informs that the European Commission ('Commission') has approved the purchasers of the assets that are being disposed in order to implement the remedies ('Remedies') that were specified in conditional decision of the Commission as of 14 July 2020 on the concentration involving the acquisition of control by PKN ORLEN over Grupa LOTOS S.A. headquartered in Gdańsk ('Grupa LOTOS')," reads the statement published by Orlen on Monday.

"The Commission has also approved the preliminary and/or conditional agreements concluded with those purchasers. The promised agreements with the abovementioned purchasers shall be concluded and, as the case may be, the conditional agreements shall come into force within 6 months from the day of their approval by the Commission," the statement added.

"We've got EC's approval to merge PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos! This is a milestone moment for effective energy transition, increasing resource independence and the region's security. Now the final decision needs to be made by the shareholders of both companies," Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek said in a tweet on Monday.

Obajtek also said at a press conference on Monday that the Commission's approval was one of the last elements of the merger. "We're planning to take over Lotos at the turn of July and August," he added.

"The merger will help the concern to grow much faster, achieve synergies generating billions in savings," Obajtek said.

He also said that Orlen was a global company and that transformation was ahead also in other countries where Orlen is present. "For this we need assets, money and the right partners, for instance, the largest oil producer in the world Saudi Aramco," he added.

According to decisions announced by PKN Orlen in January: Saudi Aramco is to purchase 30% of shares in Lotos refinery, Hungarian MOL - 417 Lotos gas stations, and Unimot - fuel storage facilities.

Orlen also signed a contract with the Saudis on oil deliveries, cooperation in the field of research and development, and joint analyses regarding investment in petroleum industry.

As part of this deal, Orlen Group is to take over 144 gas stations in Hungary, which is to give the company based in Płock a 7%-share in the retail market. This will also make Orlen the 4th-largest company in terms of the number of stations owned.

Furthermore, as part of the remedies mentioned in the contract, PKN Orlen will also extend its network in Slovakia by 41 new facilities.