M&As: Orlen to acquire Azoty’s polyolefins business in Poland; Alpla takes over shares of Egyptian jv

Grupa Azoty SA and Orlen SA plan to conclude negotiations regarding the potential acquisition of Grupa Azoty Polyolefins by the end of the first quarter of this year. Azoty’s polyolefins business consists mainly of new PDH/PP complex at Police, Poland.

Under the agreement, Grupa Azoty and Orlen will continue to work together to determine the terms and conditions of a potential transaction in which Orlen - or another entity designated by Orlen - would acquire all or part of the shares in Grupa Azoty Polyolefins currently held by Grupa Azoty, or otherwise execute the investment.

The parties have decided that negotiations on the terms of Orlen’s potential acquisition of Grupa Azoty Polyolefins, as well as an analysis of the potential transaction (including due diligence), will be carried out by March 31, 2025. This deadline may be extended or amended without altering the agreement.

“Since December, based on the signed Cooperation Agreement and the earlier Letter of Intent, we have been working intensively on potential solutions for the future of Grupa Azoty Polyolefins. As a result, we can now unequivocally confirm our chosen direction, which is to sell all or part of Polyolefins’ shares held by Grupa Azoty. At this stage, we will begin due diligence and seek to negotiate the terms of a potential transaction. At Grupa Azoty, we believe that this collaboration can bring mutual benefits. From our perspective, a potential transaction is one of the key elements of our ongoing Recovery Program, under which we are developing a new business model for the Group, says Adam Leszkiewicz, President of the Management Board of Grupa Azoty.

Negotiations will be conducted under the Agreement signed by Orlen, Grupa Azoty, Grupa Azoty Police, and Grupa Azoty Polyolefins. This agreement refers to the agreement among key stakeholders in December of last year by the Grupa Azoty companies, Orlen, Hyundai Engineering Co, and the Korean Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation.

In other news, packaging solutions provider Alpla has fully integrated the site in Egypt into the group with the acquisition of all shares from joint venture partner Taba. The Austrian specialist manufactures plastic bottles, preforms and closures for the markets of North Africa and the Middle East at its plant in Ramadan City near Cairo. Since 2024, the site has also been the central accounting service hub for the entire Africa, Middle East & Turkey (AMET) region.

The parties to the contract have agreed not to disclose the conditions.

Alpla Taba was founded in Egypt eight years ago. It employs around 450 people at the production plant in 10th of Ramadan City. They use injection blow moulding (IBM), injection stretch blow moulding (ISBM), extrusion blow moulding (EBM) and injection moulding (IM) technologies to produce hplastic bottles, closures and preforms for the food, beverage, household and beauty care industries as well as the pharmaceutical industry.

With its start in Egypt, Alpla says it expanded its portfolio to include standard packaging for pharmaceutical products and is now one of the country's leading manufacturers.

Alpla is also a pioneer in recycling. The company has been processing post-consumer recycled material (PCR) for many years, thereby strengthening the local circular economy.

“Everywhere in North Africa and the Middle East, the need for safe, affordable and sustainable packaging solutions is growing. As a system provider and technology market leader with 70 years of experience, we implement these from a single source. Our presence in Egypt plays a key role and has also been home to our central Accounting Service Hub since 2024,” emphasises Tarek Bassiouni, Regional Head of Finance & Controlling AMET at Alpla.

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