MOSCOW, May 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP has filed a non-binding application to buy the government’s 51.19 percent stake in Poland’s Lotos oil company, Kommersant business daily quoted a source close to the bidding process as saying on Friday.
TNK-BP declined to comment.
Poland estimates the value of the stake at 508.6 million euro and the bid winner must present plans to develop the company, which owns four refineries and the Petrobaltic upstream business. The winner also must preserve its Warsaw listing and headquarters in Gdansk.
The source said TNK-BP was the only Russian company among 10 firms which bid for Lotos, which has a 2.1 billion euro debt. Russia’s Rosneft and Gazprom Neft considered participation in the tender but told Kommersant they rejected the idea.
Bidding ended on April 29, but Lotos Chief Executive Pawel Olechnowicz has said a decision to sell was unlikely to be taken before next year.
In March, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that since Warsaw was dependent on Russian supplies of crude, the government should exercise caution in dealing with Russian investors.