Czech Investor Bakala Plans Bid for Ciech

Czech investor Zdenek Bakala plans to launch a bid for Polish chemicals group Ciech before the summer, two banking sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, media reported that Bakala's BXR Group and its BXR Partners unit in Poland might be looking at three investments in Poland worth €100-300 million ($128-$383 million).

Bakala, majority shareholder in Czech coal miner New World Resources (NWR) , had no immediate comment.

Ciech, which closed 2011 with consolidated net earnings of just 1.5 million zlotys, has a market capitalisation of about 968 million zlotys ($285 million).

Any tender offer for its shares would hinge on the state treasury, which controls 38.7% in Ciech. The ministry has said it plans to exit all its chemical holdings as part of a drive to raise 15 billion zlotys from state sales in 2012-2013.

Ciech's larger local rival Azoty Tarnow is currently a target for Russia's Acron, one of Europe's 10 largest mineral fertiliser groups, which earlier this month launched a 1.5-billion-zloty bid for the 32%-state-controlled Polish chemicals maker.