In his opening speech, Mikołaj Budzanowski, Minister of the State Treasury, expressed his satisfaction with the progress of the consolidation:

“From the very beginning, the process has been based on market mechanisms. After the six months, counting from July 14th, we can already observe its first results.  They include a nearly 40% increase in the value of the consolidated companies’ assets, a historical achievement of a scale unseen by the chemical industry in recent years.  It is also unmatched by any other event in Polish economy over the past year. As the Group’s shareholder, we consider it a highly welcome development. However, we cannot stop here. It has only been the first battle and winning it is definitely not enough. The Group and the entire industry are facing three major challenges,” said the Minister.

Mikołaj Budzanowski reminded his audience that the consolidation of four companies into the Azoty Group must be based on the principles of partnership. He stressed that it was important to ensure equality of the two key entities – Zakłady Azotowe PUŁAWY and Zakłady Azotowe w Tarnowie.

 “It is a great challenge, but we hope that the two management boards will soon reach an agreement on the consolidation of production activities of the two companies, which are the largest ones in Poland as well as this part of Europe,” added Mikołaj Budzanowski.

On the other hand, Paweł Jarczewski, President of Zakłady Azotowe PUŁAWY, stated that the consolidation process was a very sensitive issue.

“A European fertiliser giant is emerging. This requires a very careful approach. During our negotiations with Zakłady Azotowe w Tarnowie, we developed a consolidation agreement based on materials available at that stage. The agreement regulates the basic areas relating to our corporate bodies, development of a consolidation plan and delivery of synergies, so that nothing is done based on individual observations only, as each group has its own specific consolidation experience.  Each company has its own culture and aspirations, which have to be carefully examined in order to avoid making mistakes and copying models which do not prove useful in all circumstances. During the negotiations, we had our own observations, but they were based on the information which was available at that time. We took our time to arrange the whole process,” said Paweł Jarczewski.

According to Zakłady Azotowe PUŁAWY’s CEO, success of the process will rest on three pillars.

“The first one is people – their understanding of the consolidation and of every employee’s role in the process.  The second one involves the integration of several companies located in various parts of Poland, each of them driving the development of its local community. Each of us has its own aspirations and ambitions. We have to set certain standards and promote the best solutions across the Group. It is easy to define synergies between the companies. However, our success will be measured by the number of innovative projects we develop in two to three years, some of them looking forward to the 22nd century. This will be the indicator of our success. Looking at the current developments in the chemical industry across Europe, one can see that small and medium-sized facilities are being built. In a few years’ time, our Group should develop three to five innovative projects of this type. Innovativeness will be the measure of our success. Let us remember that at the end there is always the customer. The European chemical industry is now facing a challenge to find the end-customer. State-of-the art industry and technologies are what we should strive for,” said Paweł Jarczewski.