Petrom takes over former Shell stations

Petrom, the biggest Romanian company, on Thursday announced that it had acquired 30 stations from MOL Romania, as well as MOL Aviation Romania, for which it gave 11 stations in return and paid the rest of the amount in cash. The amount that Petrom will pay to MOL Romania will not be revealed, according to the agreement signed by the parties. Market sources, however, estimate that Petrom is to pay around 20-30 million euros in cash. The quoted sources add that the assets sold by MOL Romania – 30 stations and aeroplane fuel supplying business on Henri Coanda International Airport – belonged to Shell Romania SRL, acquired in November 2004 by the Hungarian petroleum group. MOL acquired 82 petrol stations and the aeroplane fuel business that the Anglo-Dutch giant Shell had in Romania in two steps, in June 2003 and in November 2004. The total amount that MOL paid for ex-Shell assets stood at over 90 million euros. ZF