Surgut chief expects more smiles from Hungary's MOL after new gov't takes power

http://portfolio.hu/en/cikkek.tdp?k=2&i=19999

Vladimir Bogdanov, general director of Russia’s fourth-largest oil company, the publicity-shy Surgut, told the Financial Times in a rare interview that he hoped to "build a partnership" with Hungary’s MOL despite the fact that red tape barred it from voting at MOL’s second annual general meeting in a row.

Bogdanov said he had not expected to be rebuffed by MOL after paying EUR 1.4 billion for a 21.2% stake in the Hungarian company last year, but added that "things were now moving in the right direction" after the election of a new government in Hungary, and he still hoped to "build a partnership" with MOL.

Hungary’s financial markets regulator (PSZÁF) said this week it would take no action over Surgut’s acquisition of the stake from Austria’s OMV, but its decision has come too late for the Russian company to register its holding for the AGM. An investigation by the Hungarian Energy Office into the stake sale to Surgut is still ongoing.