MOL complied with Croatian financial market regulator HANFA’s directive not to buy INA shares on the bourse after its public purchase offer ended, even though it disputed the directive, MOL said. MOL informed HANFA of the speculative purchases on the stock exchange because it goes against the interest of INA to allow speculative investors to test the strategic partnership between MOL and the Croatian government, it added.
MOL’s purchase of INA shares from private investors after its purchase offer ended went against no regulations or agreements, formal or informal, the company said. None of the purchases brought MOL’s holding in INA over the disclosure threshold, it added.
Speaking to journalists after MOL’s annual general meeting on Thursday, chairman-CEO Zsolt Hernadi reiterated that the INA share purchases, made both directly and indirectly, were in line with all regulations and disclosure requirements. “As to how much we bought, from whom and under which circumstances, that is a business secret that we have not revealed until now and will not do so later,” he added.
A Shareholders Agreement between MOL and the Croatian government lays down rights and obligations regardless of the size of the parties’ stakes in INA.
HANFA suspended trade in INA shares at the end of March to allow time to indentify foreign buyers of the company’s shares. MOL firmly rejected speculation in the Croatian press that it was behind the purchases of INA shares under scrutiny by HANFA.
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 said on Thursday that any INA shares it has purchased have been bought out of its commitment to Croatia and to INA. MOL does not wish to change the obligations of INA’s strategic partners with the purchases, it added.
HANFA suspended trade in shares of INA again on Thursday. The new suspension will last until May 6.
“On March 31 we asked Hungary’s MOL to provide us with information regarding their acquisition of INA shares and a possible agreement with other parties in relation to acquisition of INA shares. We have got no response so far and assessed the new suspension was necessary,” HANFA said in a statement, Reuters reported.
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