Equity 14 March 2023, 4:19pm

Hungary Mol one step closer to expansion in Slovenia

MTI

Hungary's Mol Group is to sell its 39 petrol stations in Slovenia to meet the conditions for EU approval for the takeover of OMV Slovenija's 92.25%, INA told Hungarian state-owned newswire MTI on Tuesday.

Hungarian oil and gas group Mol announced in June 2021 that it would acquire Austrian energy group OMV’s 92.25% stake in OMV Slovenija, in which Croatia's INA already held and still holds a 7.75% minority stake for EUR 301 million (100% share of OMV Slovenija).

In June last year, the European Commission announced the opening of an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed deal, expressing concern that the transaction "may reduce competition in the retail motor fuel markets in Slovenia."

According to today's announcement, on 9 March, Mol Group signed a sales contract with Shell for 39 petrol stations in Slovenia, which

A KEY STEP TOWARDS A FAVOURABLE DECISION BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON MOL'S ACQUISITION OF OMV SLOVENIJA.

Mol has previously held a filling station network base of 53 pumps in Slovenia, i.e. they did not sell the whole batch in a bid to obtain European Commission approval for the purchase of local pumps from Austrian OMV.

OMV Slovenija is the country's second largest fuel oil distributor with a retail network of 120 service stations, operating under three different brands: OMV, Euro Truck and Avanti/DISKONT. INA currently has a 7.75% stake in OMV Slovenija, and under the contract with Mol it has the possibility to increase its stake to 33%.