Hungarian MOL competes in Petrom's privatisation race

Hungarian oil group MOL, one of the most aggressive players in the region, will buy the job specifications book for Petrom’s privatisation, as explained by its representatives. No letter of intent for Petrom has been submitted yet, following the publication of the privatisation announcement, the Office for State’s Interests and Industrial Privatisation says.

“MOL will be 100% among all the major oil companies requesting the job specifications book, of course. We will study the document and then decide where to go from there,” said Jozsef Szorad, general manager of the Hungarian group’s retail division (fuel distribution).

He declined comment on Petrom’s sale value. “Without an analysis in our company’s data room, we can neither calculate nor provide an estimate of the price in the absence of technical details about its refineries or other elements. We make no further comment. We do not know any more details,” Szorad said. Some analysts reckon the Romanian State will be able to get $1bn from the Petrom deal.

MOL is currently undergoing an expansion process in the Central and Eastern Europe and is focusing on the privatisations in the region, Petrom included. Its latest acquisition is Croatian INA, as MOL won the tender for 25% in it, because it offered $505 million, outbidding rival OMV.

The Hungarian group, backed by its shareholders, which include major investment banks such as JP Morgan, is now in need of expansion money. It could get it from selling its gas division, a deal analysts estimate to $750 million – $1 billion.

However, the analysts are rather sceptical that MOL can afford to buy Petrom.

“The next big privatisation deal in the region will be Romania’s Petrom, but MOL is unlikely to submit a bid on its own due to the high purchase price of the firm and the subsequent obligation to carry out a capital increase, which together may amount to $1.5 billion,” Tamas Pletser, an analyst at Erste Bank Investment Rt. was quoted as saying by Budapest Business Journal.

MOL has spent more than $1.1bn in the past three years buying refineries in Slovakia and Croatia and gas stations in Romania. The latest acquisition was the purchase of a 25% stake in Croatia’s INA.

MOL’s failure to win a tender to buy the 79.5% in Beopetrol, Serbia’s second largest fuel retailer last week, is seen by some analysts as the end of its expansion campaign in the region. MOL offered 190 million euros to the Serbian State, but Russia’s LukOil outbid it by offering 207 million euros.

The deadline for submitting expressions of interest for Petrom’s privatisation is September 19, according to the privatisation announcement. The State will sell 33.34% in the largest company on the Romanian market directly to an investor or a consortium comprising no more than four members that will later join the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in a capital increase to acquire 51% in Petrom.
adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro