Croatian financial market watchdog HANFA on Monday extended a suspension of trade in shares of oil and gas company INA for a second time until May 20, HANFA said on its website.
HANFA originally suspended trade in INA shares from April 28 until May 6 to give it more time to identify foreign buyers of the shares. Near the end of the period, it extended the suspension for another week.
The latest extension came as HANFA said it was still waiting for MOL to answer questions on the acquisition of INA shares.
MOL owns 47.25% of INA and the Croatian government holds 44.84%.
MOL made a public purchase offer for the 8% of INA shares in free float last December. MOL offered HRK 2,800 per share, the same as the price in a public purchase offer it made in the autumn of 2008. But other market players appeared to outbid MOL, pushing the share price over the offer. MOL raised its stake by just 0.1% in the offer.
MOL has firmly rejected speculation in the Croatian press that it was behind the purchases of INA shares under scrutiny by HANFA, but it has confirmed it bought INA shares from third parties after the purchase offer ended.
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