Serbia announced a deal to sell Russia’s stake in NIS to Hungary’s MOL - what it means
Kyiv • UNN
MOL has agreed to purchase Russia’s stake in Serbia’s NIS. The deal is awaiting approval from antitrust authorities, while Serbia’s stake\r\nwill increase to 35%.
The agreement on the sale of the Russian stake in Serbian oil company NIS to Hungarian company MOL has been signed, but still requires approval from antitrust authorities. Serbia's Finance Minister Siniša Mali said this, UNN reports, citing HVG.
Details
In an interview with Bloomberg Adria, Siniša Mali said that the Russian owners and MOL had reached an agreement, and that the Serbian state had concluded a shareholders' agreement with the Hungarian side. The Hungarian minister expects applications for licenses to be submitted to the Serbian and, to his knowledge, Bosnian and Herzegovinian antitrust authorities in the near future, and that the change of ownership could be completed shortly thereafter.
Siniša Mali confirmed that the agreement would increase Serbia's stake in the company. According to him, a written agreement was reached to increase the Serbian state's stake from approximately 30 to 35 percent. He added that Belgrade's goal is to exceed one third.
In early October, Serbian Forbes reported that the negotiations had failed. According to the publication, Russian "Gazprom" clearly does not want to sell its stake in the Serbian state-owned oil company and is merely keeping silent about it to buy time in case the United States lifts its sanctions, which would primarily force it to sell NIS.
Shortly thereafter, information began circulating that American companies might seek to purchase NIS.
What the decision means
By acquiring more than half of NIS, Mol, as the publication writes, could obtain Serbia's only operating oil refinery, as well as the unit in Pančevo, through which the company led by Chairman and CEO Zsolt Hernádi would gain additional oil-processing capacity of 4.8 million tonnes per year, in addition to the combined capacity of its refineries in Százhalombatta in Hungary, Bratislava (owned by Slovnaft) in Slovakia, and Rijeka (owned by INA) in Croatia, amounting to nearly 19 million tonnes per year.
"What makes this deal a real bombshell is that Pančevo covers 80 percent of the country's market demand, and in addition to supplies to its own filling stations and stations bearing the \"Gazprom\" logo, other major consumers also buy from it," the publication states.
If an agreement is reached, Mol could also reportedly become the owner of petrochemical company HIP-Petrohemija, 90% of whose shares have been owned by NIS since 2021.
NIS also has interests outside Serbia. The company explores for oil and gas in Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Angola, and also has retail outlets in Bosnia and Romania, as well as in Bulgaria. This means more than 400 filling stations in the region, including household outlets. The company is also involved in electricity trading and is active in the Serbian market, as well as in the markets of Bosnia, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, and Hungary.