Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said on Friday evening that Hungary's oil and gas group MOL had offered to buy the shares from the small shareholders of Croatia's oil and gas company INA without previously notifying her Cabinet, adding that she had learned of MOL's move only on Thursday and that the government would respond to it next week.
Kosor was speaking to reporters after a meeting of the Zagreb branch of her HDZ party. She was asked to comment on MOL's offer to purchase the shares of the small shareholders of INA for a 56% higher price than the recent average price of INA's shares on the Zagreb Stock Exchange.
Kosor declined to say whether it was an attempted hostile takeover of INA, adding that she had to discuss a few more things before deciding what the government would do about it.
"You will know that next week. It's too early to talk about it right now. I learned about it only after I returned from Egypt," the Prime Minister said.
Kosor said that the government was close to an agreement with MOL regarding INA's gas business.
