Croatia's financial regulator, HANFA, has launched a probe into the failure of
local oil and gas company INA [ZSE:INA-R-A] to react to arbitration proceedings
launched by Hungary's MOL against the government in Zagreb, Croatian state-run
broadcaster HRT reported on Thursday.
In September, talks were launched
to renegotiate the terms for the management of INA where MOL owns 49.08% and the
Croatian government controls a further 44.84%.
In November, MOL said it
filed for international arbitration against the government in Zagreb for
breaching certain of its obligations and undertakings in relation to MOL's
investments in Croatia.
HRT said documents it has seen indicate HANFA is
also investigating the role of the president of INA's managing board, Zoltan
Aldott, who is at the same time a member of the negotiating team on MOL's side,
a situation that could represent a conflict of interests.
At the same
time, MOL has opened a data room for INA in Budapest, which provides details on
its business to interested investors, HRT said.
Ahead of the launch of
the arbitration proceedings, MOL said its executive board had been authorized to
start the preparations for the sale of the company’s stake in INA.