GDANSK (Reuters) -Polish state-controlled refiner Orlen on Friday signed an agreement to enable state-owned postal service Poczta Polska to invest in its courier arm and potentially take over the unit in the future.
Under the preliminary agreement, Poczta Polska will initially acquire a minority stake in Orlen Paczka and will have an option to eventually purchase all of the unit’s shares. Orlen did not disclose the size or value for the stake.
Orlen said the deal was a move towards creating a powerful domestic logistics operator.
Analyst Robert Maj from Ipopema Securities said that it enabled the refiner to shed non-core assets.
“This is a very competitive market, and this also shows that Orlen sees that the possibilities for establishing itself as another player here are probably limited,” he said.
The combined entity will compete directly with market leader InPost, which has been facing rising competition including from e-commerce giant Allegro as it rolls out its own network of lockers.
Orlen Paczka currently has more than 14,000 pick up points, including about 7,000 automated parcel lockers, while Poczta Polska has a network of over 20,000 points, including post offices and partner retail locations.
(Reporting by Julia Kotowska; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Matt Scuffham and Anna Pruchnicka)
