Commentary by Dr Magdalena Porzeżyńska on the sale of Energa shares in Parkiet
9 July 2025 • Autor: Kancelaria Brysiewicz Bokina i Wspólnicy
On 30 April 2020, PKN Orlen S.A. announced the acquisition of 80% of shares in Energa S.A., representing approximately 85% of the total number of votes at the company’s general meeting. The price of the acquired shares amounted to approximately PLN 2.77 billion and was the largest transaction of its kind on the Polish fuel and energy market. Although the European Commission approved the concentration involving PKN Orlen’s acquisition of control over Energa, this circumstance does not exclude the potential risk of granting prohibited state aid.
In the latest Parkiet, Dr Magdalena Porzezynska comments on the high-profile case of the sale of Energa shares to Orlen.
One may wonder whether these decisions, apart from not benefiting the company in any way, were not a deliberate act, as a result of which the buyout of the company's shares may take place at a much lower price than that of a properly managed company. This, in turn, may carry another extremely significant risk - the risk of finding unlawful state aid. The question therefore arises as to whether there is any state aid in the present case, given that we are dealing here with companies and the state acting as a shareholder. Well, it turns out that this cannot be ruled out - aid can come from the state, even if the entity in question does not act directly as an emanation of the state.
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