“I sincerely hope they will accept our offer from the first day of the negotiations – namely to approach a new shareholders’ agreement and a new way of managing INA,” the minister added.
MOL owns 49.08% of INA’s shares, and the state of Croatia owns 44.84%. Tensions between the two major stakeholders emerged as a result of MOL’s lack of investment in the company and the Croatian state’s failure to take over INA’s loss-making gas business.
As for speculation of the Russian fuel giant Gazprom acquiring MOL’s INA stakes, the Croatian minister said the most important issue to be solved was to find a strategic partner who would invest in INA’S production and refinery capacities, retail network, regional position and the know-how of the company’s employees.
“We held several talks with foreign companies about the situation in INA. Can that be considered as their interest in INA? Possibly yes, but there were no concrete talks,” Vrdoljak argued.
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