OMV’s advisor in Croatia, Marijan Kostrenčić, in his statement to the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa), says that he expressed his personal opinion in daily newspapers regarding the possibility of OMV’s involvement in the purchase of shares of INA and that he did not speak on behalf of OMV.
"OMV or any person authorized by OMV did not give me any instructions regarding the price offer, which I did not mention either. OMV was not even aware of my phone conversation with the journalist," Kostrenčić states among other things in his statement to Hanfa.
Hanfa requested a statement regarding Kostrenčić’s statement in Večernji list from September 3, in which he, as a long-time advisor to OMV in the Republic of Croatia, said that the speculations that OMV is not interested in acquiring INA are not accurate, as well as that the price in such an eventual acquisition would amount to 3,000 kuna or more per share.
Kostrenčić emphasizes in his statement that he personally still believes that OMV would be interested in purchasing INA shares if the Government decided to sell 19 percent of its shares through the stock exchange or in any other transparent manner."So far, this has not happened, so it cannot be said that there is any offer or idea from OMV to participate in the further privatization of INA," says Kostrenčić, adding that the price for the shares was mentioned by the journalist, and that he (Kostrenčić) only confirmed his personal opinion that this price would be higher than MOL’s because a market competition would open up. Hungarian MOL reacted on September 5 to the article in Večernji list, stating that MOL’s offer is currently the only valid one and that any other speculation regarding scenarios and numbers through newspaper statements could result in creating expectations that could mislead shareholders. MOL assessed Kostrenčić’s statement as an attempt of a ‘phantom offer’ from OMV to purchase INA shares. (H)
