Ceska Rafinerska Shareholder Unipetrol Scraps Meeting, Eni Sale Debate Delayed

The largest shareholder of the main Czech refiner Ceska Rafinerska pulled out of a planned shareholders meeting on Tuesday that was to have discussed Eni's possible sale of its stake to Gazprom.

Czech downstream oil group Unipetrol, majority owned by Poland's PKN Orlen, said in statement it had decided to stay out of the shareholders' meeting due to a lack of information from Eni on the possible sale of its 32.4% stake, leading to the meeting's cancellation.
"The information Unipetrol has received is not sufficient to assess the whole situation and to take appropriate decisions," Unipetrol said.
Under company rules, a new meeting must be called within six weeks.

Unipetrol, which holds a 51.2% stake in Ceska Rafinerska, said last week it had been informed by Eni that the Italian group was in talks with Russia's Gazprom to sell its Rafinerska stake.

Royal Dutch Shell is the third shareholder in the group with a 16.335% stake.

Ceska Rafinerska shareholders have a right of first refusal giving them the chance to buy any stake in the company which is put up for sale.