February 27 (SeeNews) - The sale of a 25% stake in Croatia's state-owned energy utility HEP via an IPO is the fastest and most effective way to secure funds for the buyback of oil and gas company INA [ZSE:INA-R-A] from Hungary's energy group MOL, Croatia's prime minister said over the weekend.
"This is the most effective, the fastest, easiest and cleanest option with the least number of stakeholders, and it allows the country, as the company's owner, to control the process in its entirety," Andrej Plenkovic is quoted as saying in a government statement released over the weekend.
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He, however, noted that the government welcomes all ideas and is open to finding the most appropriate method to raise funds for the INA buy back.
"Several options are on the table. The sale of HEP is very much on the table because it does not pose the risk of generating new debt," Plenkovic explained.
Even if the government decided to sell 25% in HEP it will still control some 75%.
The government's decision to regain ownership of INA was unveiled late last year after it emerged that MOL had won an arbitration case which Croatia launched against the company before the arbitral tribunal of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
The government controls 44.84% of INA, while institutional and private investors hold a stake of 6.08%.
In 2014, Croatia filed for international arbitration against MOL with the aim to cancel the 2009 deal that allowed MOL to take over INA's management. In 2015, Croatia ordered a retrial of former prime minister Ivo Sanader who had been earlier convicted for taking a bribe from MOL to allow it to acquire a dominant stake in INA.