Chemicals
Karkosik to expand chemical empire
Maverick Polish businessman Roman Karkosik says he is planning new investments in Ukraine and Belarus, as well as the acquisition of several chemical firms in western part of Germany. Mr. Karkosik already owns Boryszew, a publicly traded antifreeze maker, Elana plastic bottle plant and several smaller businesses with a combined net cash flow of some 140 million zloty ($36.8 million) and sales of more than 1.2 billion zloty annually. Karkosik told PARKIET he could use some of that cash flow to buy a stake in PKN Orlen, Poland?s main oil refinery once oil prices go down and the stock gets cheaper. For now, Mr. Karkosik says, PKN Orlen needs to do more to improve its performance and cut down on extravagant spending projects, like its polyester joint venture with SK Eurochem. Under the right management it has the potential...