Slovenia: MOL and SOCAR interested in overtaking Petrol oil company

The purchase of the Slovenian energy company Petrol, the largest Slovenia Company with revenues of 3.2 billion EUR generated last year, is interested more potential strategic partners, among others Hungarian MOL, Azerbaijani Socar and several international financial funds.

The sale of the company that generates revenues greater than Mercator, and in which the state has a majority share, has become more likely, although Petrol is not on the list of 15 companies that government sells in the current privatization package, and precisely after the government in departure of Alenka Bratusek changed energy law .
By this law the government has abolished the limit at which energy companies that in their business also have public office (like Petrol, which based on the state concession sales natural gas) cannot sell its controlling stake (25 percent) if it does not obtain the explicit consent of the government.

However the government argues that the change of the energy law is not affiliated with speculation on the Petrol sale, but it comes to a company that would be the easiest to find the potential new owner among strategic investors, claims “Dnevnik”.

The European Commission has recently requested in its recommendations that Slovenia determines a strategy and timetable for the new privatization package as soon as possible that would reduce their excessive proprietary portfolio and thereby reduce the budget deficit. But most of the political parties, especially left-wing, are against this, mostly because of the upcoming elections and voter reluctance to privatization.

On the other hand, part of the center-right parties and some economic analysts remind us that an investment of 5 to 6 billion EUR is needed for the economic recovery of the country and that after years of recession would be difficult to find fresh funds for the new economic growth, except for strategic investors who are willing to buy the state’s most interesting companies or to overtake its assets into concession, which is a combination within which they could find the Slovenian motorways.

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