Three shortlisted bidders can place binding bids for a 63 percent state-held majority in oil and chemicals group Unipetrol by mid-April, National Property Fund (FNM) spokeswoman Petra Krainova said. The government on Wednesday shortlisted Dutch- British Royal Dutch/Shell, Hungary's MOL and Poland's PKN Orlen.

The commission has put off the date on which it will pick the winner till April 30 at a request from the bidders who wanted more time to carry out due diligence and finalise contracts to set up consortia. A total of six companies placed correct preliminary bids, with the price offers ranging from 7 billion to 16 billion crowns.

The previous attempt to sell Unipetrol failed in 2002 when Czech chemical group Agrofert, which won the tender with a 11.5 billion crown (361 million euros) bid, refused to pay.

(NewsBase 26.i.04)