"The Polish retail market is very attractive for many players. But to manage a chain effectively, you have to have at least 100 stations, which this transaction gives us," said Lotos chief executive Paweł Olechnowicz.
Lotos has long sought to expand its nascent retail presence on a market dominated by PKN, aiming for a market share of 12 percent by 2010.
Analysts said that the valuation looked dear. "The price per station is six times what PKN paid for its stations in Germany, and while retail margins are higher in Poland, real estate costs less," said Sebastian Słomka, head of research at bank PKO BP.
Last year, Exxon stations sold an average of 5.2 million liters of fuel, about 2.5 times the average sales of Lotos's network. Average fuel sales across the country stood at about 1.5 million liters per filling station. (Reuters)
Lotos has signed a preliminary deal to buy 39 Esso-branded stations and 14 sites on which stations can be built, for a total of zł.279 million in order to expand its retail operations. It will finance the purchase with a combination of its own funds and bank loans.
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