Baker McKenzie's Prague and Warsaw offices advised PKN Orlen, the largest Polish petrol retailer and oil refiner, in relation to its bid to acquire the remaining shares of Unipetrol a.s., the Czech Republic’s largest petrochemical and refining group.

The Baker McKenzie team advising Orlen was led by Prague-based partners Alexandr Cesar and Libor Basl, as well as by Tomasz Krzyzowski and Krzysztof Haladyj, partners from the Warsaw office.
PKN Orlen, holding a 62.9% equity interest in Unipetrol, has launched a conditional voluntary tender offer for shares in the Czech company. The offer is conditional on PKN Orlen acquiring at least 90% of Unipetrol’s share capital. Ultimately, PKN Orlen aims to buy all Unipetrol shares and have the company delisted from the Prague Stock Exchange. Increasing its stake in Unipetrol to 90 per cent would cost Orlen EUR 725 million.

Unipetrol a.s. is the largest refining and petrochemical group in the Czech Republic. It owns refineries in Litvínov and Kralupy, the largest local retail chain Benzina (400 service stations) and Spolana, the sole PVC and caprolactam manufacturer on the Czech market. The company’s core asset is its Litvinov petrochemical operation - now the construction site for a polyethylene unit, the country’s largest petrochemical project to date.