Czech Rep: Pap Oil Acquisition Linked to Aero Brand of St Petersburg

The sale of the Pap Oil network in the Czech Republic has been linked to the owners of the Aero service Station network of St Petersburg in Russia.

The Prague Monitor reports that several independent sources from the petrochemical industry confirmed Phaeton, who operate the Aero Brand in St petersburg as the buyer.  Phaeton appear to be the favourites for the acquisition  to buy 140 Pap Oil petrol stations, with the contract to be signed within the next few months. "They have spoken to several local petrol station operators. The new owner apparently wants to resell part of the stations immediately," one of the sources said on condition of anonymity. "If Phaeton keeps some 80 of the Pap Oil stations, sells the rest and acquires several new, modern stations, it may become a serious competitor to the other chains,".

Pap Oil CEO and former director of the fuel chain Benzina, Frederik Emich and head of Pap Oil commercial department Lukáš Kopecký were not available for comment. The ownership of the Pap Oil fuel chain who appear to be all Czech
include Milan Vomela, an entrepreneur linked to the company Bena that is being investigated in connection with a CZK 3 billion fraud attempt against the state-run oil company Èepro.

Benzina CEO Martin Durèák said that Benzina, the largest fuel retailer in the Czech Republic with 333 petrol stations, no longer counts on private Czech companies like Pap Oil and Robin Oil within its planned acquisitions. "We would rather be interested in Èepro stations if they were privatised sometime in the future," said Durèák.

PetrolWorld  291008  www.papoil.cz

15th April 2005 New Upmarket Service Station for Aero Network in St Petersburg