March 17 (SeeNews) - The Croatian government said on Tuesday it expects international investment firm Lazard to complete in the second quarter of 2020 its due diligence on local oil and gas group INA [ZSE:INA-R-A], prior to the planned purchase of Hungary's MOL stake in the company.
On Tuesday, Lazard submitted its report on the progress on INA's due diligence to the government's special council in charge of preparing, implementing, and proposing financing for the planned possible repurchase of MOL's stake in INA, the government said in a brief statement.
In November, INA said the government has asked it to provide due diligence information to Lazard, with view of the planned repurchase of MOL's holdings in the company.
The government hired Lazard for the job in August, signing a 9.0 million euro ($9.9 million) deal for consultancy services in the planned repurchase of MOL's stake.
Last year, energy minister Tomislav Coric said that the government wants to have the due diligence report ready in the first quarter of 2020 when it plans to begin talks with MOL.
The government has said earlier the potential purchase of MOL's stake in INA is to be followed by a sale of INA's shares to a new strategic partner.
The Hungarian company is the biggest shareholder in INA with a 49.1% stake. The Croatian government owns 44.8%, with the remaining 6.1% held by institutional and private investors.
Croatia's prime minister Andrej Plenkovic has said that the government-appointed council in charge of negotiations with MOL had already defined the criteria for the purchase of MOL's stake, while the advisor would be tasked with assessing INA's value and identifying possible strategic partners.
INA's shares traded up 2.74% at 3,000 kuna ($435/396 euro) by 13:50 CET on Tuesday on the Zagreb bourse.
(1 euro = 7.58146 kuna)
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