Czesi obaiwają się skutków polskiej polityki dla Unipetrolu

Prague, June 3 (CTK) - Charles Peake will be sacked from the post of director for mergers at Czech oil group Unipetrol after letting the wife of Unipetrol chief executive Francois Vleugels win a tender, the Euro weekly has said.

Unipetrol's owner, Poland's PKN Orlen, allegedly wants to sack Vleugels himself, the weekly writes in the latest issue, due out on Monday, citing the Polish daily Puls Biznesu.

Peake let the Chemical Solutions company, whose only owner and executive is Marta Vleugels, win a tender to provide consulting services on the restructuring of Unipetrol's unit Unipetrol Trade.

An internal audit has unveiled many flaws. Auditors for instance did not find a list of the criteria on the basis of which Marta Vleugels won the tender.

Peake allegedly got in touch with Chemical Solutions earlier than with the other participants and offered the company help in the tender. He picked the winner himself, says the weekly.

But the contract between Unipetrol Trade and Chemical Solutions, already drafted, was never signed because Unipetrol managers were afraid of a clash of interest, Euro adds.

Analysts are becoming increasingly concerned that Polish political interference could impede the business strategy of Unipetrol, the Czech petrochemical group owned by Poland’s state-controlled oil and petrochemical group PKN Orlen.

Worries mounted last week when Unipetrol CEO Francois Vleugels found himself at the center of a controversy after it emerged that Prague-based consultancy Chemical Solutions, a company owned by Vleugels’ wife Marta Vleugels, had won a tender to supply Unipetrol sales subsidiary Unipetrol Trade with restructuring services.

Unipetrol announced May 28 that Orlen CEO Piotr Kownacki had decided that accepting the tender result would conflict with the Polish group's code of ethics and that Chemical Solutions should not be awarded the contract for the services. However, the story doesn’t end there. Observers noted that Unipetrol’s supervisory board, headed by Kownacki, has asked for an internal audit of the tender process and said there was now the very real prospect that its conclusions could be used to dismiss the Unipetrol boss.

Since taking power in September 2005, the “Kaczynski twins” Polish government has replaced many strategic company heads with their own favored candidates. Kownacki himself, known to be an ally of Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, was appointed Orlen CEO in January, replacing Igor Chalupec, a man who, like Vleugels, is generally praised by market analysts for having solid business acumen.

‘Rumors taken seriously’

Looking at the situation of Vleugels—made Unipetrol CEO in February 2006, after being headhunted by Chalupec—Bram Buring, an analyst at brokerage Wood & Company Financial Services, issued a note for investors. “Given the seriousness of the accusations and the high turnover rate for Orlen managers, we take the rumor [that Vleugels is going to be dismissed] seriously. Please also note that Vleugels was selected by Orlen’s former management,” it said.

An analyst at another brokerage, who requested anonymity, went further. “Everyone can see what happened to Chalupec, and everyone can see how Polish ministers are interfering generally in Polish industry. There’s every reason to think we’ll soon be seeing a person blessed by these ministers taking charge of Unipetrol. The controversy over the wife’s business may give them the excuse they need.”

Vleugels is known in the petrochemical world as a former chief executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa of international chemical company Eastman Chemical. “We see any speculation regarding replacing Francois Vleugels negatively, as our personal experience with him is positive and he has been devoted to improving not only the financial performance and structure but also the image of Unipetrol among investors,” said Robert Keller, an analyst with brokerage Patria Finance.

Radek Němeček, senior investor relations officer at Unipetrol, said he believed Orlen had given assurances that Vleugels’ tenure is secure, but when approached by CBW, Dawid Piekarz, Orlen’s chief spokesman, would not respond to questions on whether or not that’s the case.

The press office of the majority Orlen stakeholder, Poland's Mini-stry of the Treasury, June 1, issued a statement. "As the largest Orlen shareholder [the ministry] expects its rights to be respected," it read. "Please note that Mr. Chalupec was an acting politician in the previous post-Communist government as a deputy finance minister."