Hungary’s leading energy company MOL plans to introduce its own brand on the Polish market earlier than its takeover agreement of 417 gas stations owned by Grupa Lotos would imply, informed Péter Ratatics, CEO of MOL Hungarian Oil.
“According to the contract, MOL has the right to use the Lotos brand name for some time, however we plan to introduce our own brand earlier than the agreement. At the moment, we are still working on the details of the rebranding plan,” said Ratatics in an interview with ISBnews.
He also announced that in the longer term MOL plans to introduce premium fuel in Poland from Polish refineries, but enriched with unique supplements of its own production, as well as the entry of MOL’s own food brand, Fresh Corner, to Poland.
Ratatics added that around 1,050 outlets in the region sell 50 million cups of coffee a year, making MOL Group one of the biggest retailers in the European coffee market. “Our hot dogs are also very popular, we sell around 17 million of them each year,” continued MOL’s CEO. “We will be able to present more details about our plans after closing the transaction,” he added.
“After a couple of years of intense negotiations on merging PKN Orlen and Lotos Group, and finally after Lotos split into a couple of companies, we believe that a detached retail segment could stabilize now,” said Ratatics, adding that their goal was to ensure operational continuity of all stations. “We want clients to continue to have access to service at the expected level and existing employees to have a stable and satisfactory work place,” said Ratatics.
In mid-July, the European Commission approved the takeover of part of Lotos by Hungarian company MOL. Under the agreement, from January 2022, around 80 percent of Lotos Group, comprising 417 gas stations under the brand name Lotos, will be acquired by MOL.
The Hungarian energy giant operates in the oil extraction and processing field. Its production assets are located in eight countries and it also has four refineries and two petrochemical plants. It has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 2004.
