Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG (OMV.VI) expressed astonishment Thursday over what it described as the haste of its Hungarian peer MOL Nyrt. to transfer an 8% stake to Omani state oil company Oman Oil Company or OOC.
"As a major shareholder in MOL, OMV is astonished that such a significant amount of shares have been transferred to a third party with such haste," OMV said in a release.
MOL announced a strategic partnership with OOC Monday as part of which the Hungarian company sold an 8% stake to OOC.
MOL, which is fighting a takeover attempt by OMV, said Wednesday that it transferred the shares to OOC.
"We believe this is just another example of MOL's poor corporate governance and hasty tactical deal making which to date has not been positively reflected in MOL's share price," OMV said.
The partly state-owned Austrian company has a 20.2% stake in MOL.