Croatian economy minister Ivan Vrdoljak said on Friday that the government is
considering buying the stake held by Hungary's MOL in Zagreb-based oil and gas
company INA [ZSE:INA-R-A].
Buying back MOL's stake in INA is an option,
though a difficult one and the government will do everything in its power to
recover INA without increasing public debt, Vrdoljak said in a statement
published on the government's website.
MOL owns 49.08% of INA and the
Croatian government controls a further 44.84%.
MOL and the Croatian
government held talks earlier in the day on the management of
INA.
Earlier on Friday MOL said the talks did not yield any
result.
The Croatian government's negotiating team, lead by economy
minister Ivan Vrdoljak, could not convey the government's official position
regarding the corporate governance proposal, submitted by INA's supervisory
board, nor could it confirm if the deconsolidation of INA from MOL's financial
statements is a precondition for the government in Zagreb, MOL said in an
emailed statement.
"Regrettably, once again we were not able to discuss
business issues and, despite previous promises by the minister, we haven’t heard
any suggestions how the regulatory environment could be improved," MOL
said.
For his part, Vrdoljak confirmed that the talks had failed to make
any progress.
The economy minister said that the government will propose
a new shareholders' agreement, which will be most probably discussed during the
next round of talks between the two sides.
MOL said it will remain open
to continuing the negotiations with the Croatian government.
In August,
the Croatian government said it would open talks with MOL to renegotiate the
terms of the management of INA, whose performance had deteriorated over the past
years. In November, two months after the launch of talks, MOL said its executive
board had been authorized to start preparations for the sale of the company’s
stake in INA.