Hernádi: Preconditions for Strengthening Partnership with INA Have Been Met

The President of the Management Board and CEO of MOL Group, Zsolt Hernádi, assessed today that MOL, which has increased its stake in INA to 47.15% through a public offering, has taken an important step towards strengthening its partnership with INA.

He also expressed readiness to continue discussions with the Croatian Government regarding the development of INA and its management in the future."I believe that with this public offering we have demonstrated our commitment to INA and Croatia in a transparent manner. Thanks to the strong response from shareholders, we have made another important step towards achieving our strategic goal: strengthening the partnership with INA. Furthermore, thanks to the existing shareholder agreement, we are ready to continue discussions with the Government of the Republic of Croatia regarding the development of INA and its management in the future", stated Hernádi. The Hungarian MOL informed capital market participants that following the successful public offering, it has increased its ownership stake in INA to 47.15%.

According to official data from the Central Depository Agency, MOL collected a total of 2,215,469 shares during the public offering, at a price of 2,800 HRK per share."MOL has secured sufficient funds to complete this transaction. Although the approval process for the intended concentration of MOL and INA is still ongoing, it will not affect the payment to shareholders who accepted MOL’s public offering," stated MOL in its announcement. Given the number of deposited shares and the price from the public offering, MOL will pay approximately 6.2 billion HRK to shareholders for the deposited shares.

In accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act on Takeovers, the deadline for the payment of cash funds to shareholders is October 17, 2008, the SDA informed earlier today. SDA reported early this afternoon that the takeover offer by MOL was closed today at 12:15 PM, in which a total of 2,215,469 paid shares of INA were deposited, representing 22.15% of INA’s shares, so MOL, with the previously acquired 25% plus one share, has a total of 47.15% of the shares of the Croatian oil company. MOL’s voluntary offer for the takeover of INA related to slightly more than 30.16% of the shares, or all shares of INA not owned by MOL and the Croatian Government.

After the public offering, the Hungarian oil company becomes the largest shareholder of INA, considering that the Government owns 4,483,552 shares or 44.83% of INA’s shares. The Croatian Government and Hungarian MOL had already begun discussions about further privatization of INA before the public offering, in which the possibility of a share swap was mentioned, and these discussions, as announced yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Damir Polančec, will continue next week. (Hina)