The Hungarian oil and gas operator MOL on Monday published a statement expressing surprise at a decision on the temporary suspension of trading in shares of the Croatian oil and gas company INA, calling for the publication of its reply to a request it received from the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA).
"MOL Plc. was very surprised to learn about the temporary suspension of trade of INA d.d. shares as it has fully complied with HANFA's request of 2 May 2011, received via its proxies, law firm Zuric i Partneri d.o.o. on 4th May 2011 (Request).
"In order to fully comply with basic principles of the Law on HANFA, in particular art. 14 and to ensure the swift access to all relevant information to consumers of financial services, investors and general public, MOL is requesting the publication of its reply to the Request, filed with HANFA on 6th May 2011," the company said in the statement referring to HANFA's latest decision, published earlier in the day.
On April 28, HANFA temporarily suspended trading in INA shares until May 6, and this morning it extended the suspension until the end of this week's trading, May 13.
Explaining its decision in a statement published via the Zagreb Stock Exchange, HANFA said that based on the results of its monitoring of trading on March 31 and investor data available, it had asked MOL for information on how it had acquired INA shares, on financial resources it had secured for another entity to purchase INA shares, and on a possible agreement with another entity to purchase INA shares.
On May 6, HANFA received a notification from MOL via the Zuric i partneri law firm, whereby MOL responded to its request of March 31.
"Given that the said notification did not contain all the information HANFA needs to correctly and fully establish facts, HANFA believes that it is necessary to again temporarily suspend trading in order to ensure regular and proper trading on the capital market," HANFA said in the latest decision.
It recalled that under the Law on the Capital Market, a temporary suspension expires on the date stated in a decision to that effect or upon delivery of proof based on which it would be able to establish that conditions which had led to suspension in trading no longer exist.
HANFA suspended trading in INA shares on several occasions - from March 28 to April 1, from April 4 to April 8, from April 28 to May 6, and now from May 9 to May 13.
