Hungarian foreign minister: Money invested by MOL must return to Hungary in INA repurchase

Budapest, January 19 (MTI) – MOL’s investment in Croatian peer INA should be returned to Hungary in the event Croatia repurchases the INA stake, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign affairs and trade minister has said.

The Croatian government on Thursday set up a special council of senior government members to conduct negotiations on the repurchase.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said late in December that the state would buy back MOL’s stake in INA. The announcement followed an international arbitration court’s decision dismissing the Croatian government’s claims against MOL concerning bribery, corporate governance and alleged breaches of a shareholders agreement.

MOL bought 25 percent-plus-one share of INA for 505 million US dollars in 2003 and it raised its stake to 47.16 percent in a public-purchase offer, paying a total of 873 million euros for 22.16 percent of the shares in 2008.

MOL currently holds 49.08 of INA shares. Its holding is worth about 1.9 billion euros at market price. The Croatian government holds a 44.84pc stake.

Photo: mol.hu

Source: MTI