PKN Orlen has funds to buy out Mazeikiu Nafta shares
The Polish concern PKN Orlen, owner of the oil refinery Mazeikiu Nafta, stated having money for buying out a tenth of the refinery"s shares from the Lithuanian Government. The concern is to pay 284.45 million U.S. dollars for them.
The last year was perhaps the worst year for the Polish concern PKN Orlen in its history. Jacek Krawiec, CEO of the Polish concern, admitted that Orlen did not want to become indebted and would cut its investments by selling a part of its companies. Despite the difficulties, PKN Orlen assured having funds to buy out the remaining holding of Mazeikiu Nafta, reports Bloomberg/ELTA.
PKN Orlen, Poland"s largest refiner, said it forecasted a net loss for the fourth quarter and full year of 2008, as plunging oil prices slashed the value of its inventories. Orlen was also hurt by a slump in the zloty, which drove up costs on debt denominated in foreign currencies, the Plock-based company said in a regulatory statement late yesterday. The zloty weakened 18% against the euro in the fourth quarter. The company"s costs related to the zloty decline reached 1.5 billion zloty (412 million U.S. dollars) in the last three months of 2008. Oil inventories lost about 2.5 billion zloty in value, compared with an increase of 564 million zloty in the fourth quarter of 2007, Orlen said in the statement. Orlen is expected to report a record net loss of 2.9 billion zloty in the quarter, according to the median forecast of five analysts.