The Hungarian oil company MOL is ready for the start of constructive negotiations with the Croatian government about the Croatian peer INA, read a statement from MOL forwarded to HINA on Thursday in response to claims by an unnamed MOL official who said that the Hungarian company was prepared to sell its stake in INA.
MOL said it cannot comment on "rumors about business decisions."
The Austrian news agency APA earlier today cited a MOL senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity as saying that MOL will make another attempt at encouraging Croatia to agree to cooperation concerning the issues in the Croatian oil company INA and should that attempt fail, MOL will sell its stake in INA.
Should they continue to obstruct decisions on large investments for example, MOL intends to sell its 49% stake in INA, said the source. He, however, did not rule out the possibility of MOL taking over the majority share in INA.
Croatia currently holds a 44% share in INA.
"Clearly we cannot comment on rumors about business decisions. However, we are looking forward and are ready to start constructive negotiations with the Croatian government, read the statement which MOL forwarded to HINA.
The Croatian government today decided that its team in negotiations with MOL will be led by Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak, and Mladen Pejnovic, head of the State Property Management Office, will be a member of the team.
The government, being the second largest shareholder in INA, needs to agree with its strategic partner on strategic goals and the future of INA, and in order to do that, the history of INA over the last ten years needs to be discussed as well, Vrdoljak said, noting that the privatisation of INA had begun in 2003.
Issues that need to be discussed are corporate governance, cost control, oil refining, wholesale and retail sale of oil products, and gas business.
"These should be discussed so that INA would be better tomorrow than it is today, because INA can and must be better and it will be better," the minister said.
The negotiating team was authorised to conduct negotiations in accordance with the government's negotiating framework. It is required to keep the government regularly updated on the course of negotiations and, if necessary, it may hire international consultants to find the best solution together with the strategic partner. The negotiating framework also provides for the possibility of hiring legal experts with international experience to analyse all agreements between the government and MOL.
The negotiating framework says that steps need to be urgently taken to establish a new model of management of INA that will ensure unhindered operation and development of the company in accordance with Croatian laws.
