Surgut sues Hungary’s MOL to get shareholder rights
July 13, 2010, 11:47 am
Hungarian oil and gas group MOL has announced that Russia's Surgutneftegaz, which holds a 21.2% stake in the company, has sued MOL to get listed on its share register.
"OJSC Surgutneftegas initiated a litigation against the Company before the Metropolitan Court in order to make void the resolution accepted on 20 April 2010 by the Board of Directors of MOL on the refusal of OJSC Surgutneftegas’s registration into the share register," MOL said in a statement on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) late on Monday.
Surgut was banned for taking part in MOL's past two annual general meetings, although an observer from the company was allowed entry in 2010.
The Metropolitan Court has set the date of the first hearing to 3 December 2010.
The Russian energy giant acquitted the 21% MOL package last year from Austria's OMV for EUR 1.4 bn, double the market price. MOL has said it considers Surgutneftegaz a financial investor.
"Although there might be a negative market reaction to the news due to its nature and connection to the sensitive Surgutneftegas issue," commented Lajos Mészáros, analyst at KBC Securities in Budapest.
"However, we rather suggest investors not to read too much into it as a year ago, after the company refused to register Surgutneftegas into its share register, we could see the same scenario without any material implication on MOL," he added.
