Orlen Paczka is the result of numerous purchases made by the concern from Płock during the presidency of Daniel Obajtek.
In 2020, Orlen acquired a majority stake in Ruch (65%) for PLN 130 million. Together with him, PZU and PZU Życie (PLN 58 million for 29 percent of shares) and Alior Bank (PLN 12 million – 6 percent) invested in the press distributor.
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The company's current management believes that this was an extremely poor decision, as Orlen lost a total of about PLN 1 billion, including the capital employed. In this case, the prosecutor's office was even notified about the possibility of committing a crime, as we reported in Business Insider Polska.
The movement is going into liquidation, so there is no chance of getting the money back. Although last fall it seemed that at least some of the funds could be recovered. Part of the business, which operates under the name Orlen Paczka, was separated from Ruch, and 100 percent Orlen has shares in the entity.
In September 2025, the Płock concern signed a preliminary agreement with Poczta Polska, under which Poczta Polska was to initially become a minority shareholder in Orlen Paczka, and ultimately take over the entire business.
The transaction concerned two companies controlled by the State Treasury and had strong support from the Minister of State Assets, Wojciech Balczun. The final outcome was to create a large national player in the courier services market controlled by the state.
Orlen Parcel not for Poczta Polska
However, in the final stretch, the plan fell apart, and two days ago Orlen announced in a stock exchange report that the matter is no longer valid, and the concern from Płock announced that the parties had withdrawn from the contract.
Based on conversations with people with knowledge about the planned transaction, the Business Insider Polska editorial team managed to determine why, despite government patronage, the project did not work out.
Poczta Polska is still in a difficult financial situation and the development of a new business leg in the form of courier services with the help of Orlen Paczka was supposed to help it get back on track. In 2024, the company led by Sebastian Mikosz managed to reduce its net loss by over PLN 408 million, from PLN 621 million to PLN 213 million. Poczta Polska did not hide the fact that cost discipline was behind this result, but it received PLN 749 million in compensation for providing universal service.
In December last year, the Ministry of State Assets (MAP) announced that by the end of January 2026 it would transfer nearly PLN 1 billion to the postal operator's accounts, including: for removing the effects of floods, refunding investments in e-Delivery or compensation related to the provision of universal services.
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President of Poczta Polska Sebastian Mikosz
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Adam Burakowski/East News / East News
Poczta Polska without financing?
It is known that Poczta Polska would in no way be able to finance the takeover of Orlen Paczka on its own. Public money was also at stake here.
— The Post Office did not organize financing for the transaction, a person close to the transaction tells Business Insider Polska.
It is known that the budget situation is very tight for the next year. Poland is additionally subject to the EU's excessive deficit procedure, which means that the government should not increase spending if it is not covered by revenues. Last year, Minister of Finance Andrzej Domański ordered financial discipline among administrators of public money. The fiscal situation is also difficult this year.
How much would Poczta Polska have to spend to purchase the courier business and parcel machines from Orlen? None of the State Treasury companies disclosed the valuation of Orlen Paczka.
— There was to be a joint valuation of the company prepared by an external entity on behalf of Orlen and Poczta Polska – says our informant. According to him, however, the valuation has not been finalizedi.e. the final and fair value of Orlen Paczka has not been determined.
A hint about the value of a business based on parcel machines can be found in the interview of the president of Poczta Polska, Sebastian Mikosz, for the XYZ portal.
“We will have to spend approximately PLN 1.5-2 billion on the consolidation process with Orlen Paczka. This is not an unbearable amount” – he said, and when asked where his company would get financing from, he pointed out that “the owner has not invested in the post office for 20 years, so it's time to change it.”
According to one of our interlocutors, when the president of the post office talked about an amount of PLN 1.5-2 billion, i.e. at the turn of November and December last year, he was giving valuations before the due diligence of Orlen Paczka, i.e. the examination of the company's condition.
Our sources, however, indicate that the lack of financing or problems with obtaining it from the budget is not necessarily the only reason why the sale of Orlen Paczka failed.
— There are also differences as to how much Orlen Paczka is worth. Valuations always assume a certain value range and certain assumptions regarding, for example, the future of the business – emphasizes an interlocutor with Business Insider Polska close to the government.
In his opinion Orlen expected an amount of at least PLN 1.5 billion, and Poczta Polska was ready to give an amount significantly lower, even by one fifth.
Orlen Paczka stays in the group
President Ireneusz Fąfara, who became the head of Orlen after the change of power, did not hide the fact that the company intended to get rid of businesses that are not part of the core activities of the multi-energy concern. Orlen Paczka and the publisher Polska Press are on the sale list.
Orlen, in response to questions from Business Insider Polska, informs that “the decision to withdraw from the agreement was made in cooperation and agreement with Poczta Polska.”
“After the analysis, both parties concluded that the formula included in the conditional investment agreement is not optimal in the light of the processes that have taken place on the courier market in recent months,” we read in a message from the company's press office.
Therefore, Orlen Paczka remains within the structures of the capital group, but the concern from Płock maintains its declaration of “focusing on core business”.
“But until a partner is found, which remains our priority, the concern will continue the systematic development of this area, strengthening the market value of Orlen Paczki. At the same time, we do not rule out a return to talks with Poczta Polska“- informs the company.
From the point of view of people using Orlen Paczka's services, nothing changes. At the end of 2025, Orlen's courier services business consisted of a network of over 15,000. collection points, of which 7,811 were parcel machines.
“In 2026, we plan to continue dynamic growth, focusing on the development of technologies supporting the scaling of operations and further improvement of customer experience. We plan to open further logistics branches equipped with automatic sorters, increase the number of couriers and expand the reach of the receiving network – both parcel machines and collection points,” says Orlen's press office.
One of our interlocutors points out that while Orlen wants to get rid of businesses that are not related to its core business, it does not intend to do it at any cost.
– First of all, the assets of Orlen Paczki, if they are to be sold, this process must take place at a fair price that reflects the value of the company confirmed by independent valuations – emphasizes the interlocutor of Business Insider Polska.
– Today we see how the prosecutor's office is looking at various aspects of Orlen's operations during the PiS era, which means that one day it will also take a closer look at the activities of the company's current management – he adds.
Ministry, Orlen and Poczta Polska
MAP, in an official response to questions from Business Insider Polska, states that the cooperation scenario between Orlen and Poczta Polska, which resulted in the letter of intent signed in September 2025, was considered suboptimal after conducting in-depth analyses.
“For this reason, the companies decided to look for alternative scenarios for the cooperation model that will be more beneficial for them financially and operationally. The Ministry of State Assets supports the search for such alternative solutions“- we read in the ministry's response.
At the same time, the ministry emphasizes that the companies' withdrawal from the contract was the result of a “change in the scenario, and not the result of lack of financing.”.
Author: Bartek Godusławski, journalist of Business Insider Polska
