Brussels, 21/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - Due to the limited overlaps of the two firms´ activities the Commission has decided to allow Polish company PKN Orlen to buy up a 63% stake in the Unipetrol petro-chemical company. PKN Orlen is a public company mainly active in crude oil processing and the manufacture of petroleum and petrochemical products, whereas Unipetrol is also a state company and active in the fuel and oil sector, as well as in the petro-chemical industries. The Commission points out that the merger of the two companies, which benefited from a monopoly in the Polish and Czech Republic markets before the move to a market economy, will give birth to a major regional player in the oil sector. The Commission has verified that this does not cause competitive concerns. Its market investigation focussed on the markets for non-retail sales of gasoline and diesel, soda lye and bitumen. The Commission concluded that there were limited overlaps of the parties´ activities in and the presence of multinational competitors.