Lazard presented to the Council for INA a preliminary report on the due diligence of INA, with the final report expected in about a month, and by the end of the month, the first meeting with representatives of MOL is anticipated, reported Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Ćorić, who is "satisfied with the work done".
"The Council for INA received today the first preliminary report on the due diligence from our consultant, Lazard, and we will receive the final report in the coming period, which is expected in the next month. What follows now is intensive communication with the other party, and in that context, we expect the first meeting with Hungarian MOL by the end of the month," Ćorić stated to reporters after the Council for INA meeting at Banski dvori. The minister assessed that they are "satisfied with the work done". He did not go into any details of Lazard’s preliminary report, explaining that INA is listed on the stock exchange, which "narrowed the maneuvering space" for the government.
The meeting of the Council for INA, which included representatives of Lazard via video link, was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. The Council for INA is a government advisory body, established in January 2017, tasked with providing guidelines, taking measures and actions, and proposing decisions to the government regarding the preparation, implementation, and financing of the potential purchase of shares held by MOL in INA.
Hungarian MOL is the largest single shareholder of INA, holding 49.1 percent of INA shares (4,908,207 shares), while the Croatian government owns 44.8 percent (4,483,552 shares), and private and institutional shareholders hold 6.1 percent (608,241 shares).
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced at the end of 2016 that the government decided to regain ownership of INA by purchasing the entire stake held by MOL, after Croatia lost in the proceedings it initiated against MOL before the arbitration court of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law in Geneva.
In April 2018, the government selected a consortium, which included Morgan Stanley, Intesa Sanpaolo Group, and Privredna banka Zagreb (PBZ), as the government’s investment advisor in the transaction for the potential purchase of INA shares from Hungarian MOL and the possible subsequent sale of those shares to a new strategic partner of INA.
However, after disputes arose regarding "the understanding of what needed to be incorporated into the representation agreement, particularly concerning the technical aspects of engaging the advisor," the government selected the Anglo-French investment bank Lazard as the new consultant on August 1, 2019. INA received a request from the government on November 20 last year to initiate the due diligence process of the company, which was conducted by Lazard, and in that process, the value of the company was also to be determined.
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