The key facts
- MOL: there are no changes in the NIS deal requiring disclosure to the market
- Sinisa Mali announced the signing of an agreement to sell 56.15% of Gazprom Neft's shares
- The deal must be approved by the antitrust authorities of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the US
MOL sees no changes in the deal
The press service of the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL announced that there are no significant changes in the negotiations around Serbian NIS. The statement posted on the Budapest Stock Exchange website says: 'In the course of implementing the NIS transaction, no changes have occurred that would require MOL to inform the capital market.' The company added that if new information appears, it will immediately provide it in accordance with the law.
Statement from the Serbian side
Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Serbia Sinisa Mali announced that an agreement had been signed to sell the controlling stake in the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS), which was placed on the US sanctions list, to Hungarian MOL. According to him, it remains to obtain the consent of the antitrust commissions of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Deal details and sanctions context
We are talking about the sale of a controlling stake of 56.15% of shares owned by Gazprom Neft. This sale must also be approved by the American authorities. The situation around the largest energy company in the region escalated after the introduction of US sanctions. On September 24, NIS officially requested the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department to extend the license for operating activities. The US had previously already extended the license for NIS to operate.
