|
|
 |
Gazprom’s Former Executives Earns on Hungarian Oil
Shares in Hungary’s MOL oil firm surged 25 percent in the past three trading days on speculation of a takeover bid. Hungary’s richest businessman and Gazprom’s former executive Megdet Rakhimkulov reaped sizeable profit, selling his stake in the company.
Trading for MOL’s shares went up five-fold on Monday and twenty-fold to $1.15 billion on Tuesday despite denials from Austria’s OMV that it is seeking to merge with the Hungarian company as well as a firm statement from MOL opposing the move.
OMV said in a statement that it has almost doubled its stake in MOL to 18.6 percent, sending the Hungarian firm’s shares 5 percent on Tuesday. The Austrian company denied plans of a takeover and said it had raised its stake to position better for the consolidation it expects in the region’s oil and gas sector.
Meanwhile, MOL’s management signaled once again that they were not in favor of a deal. The company declined talks on the takeover in a statement.
MOL’s portfolio investors had a good chance to reap from the Hungary-Austrian conflict. Medget Rakhimkulov, Hungary’s richest businessman and Gazprom’s executive in the early 1990s, has sold his stake in the firm recently.
Mr. Rakhimkulov’s holding Kafijat Zrt and its offshore units bought some 11 percent in MOL in May. The firms sold slightly more than 6 percent in MOL to Vienna Capital Partners Unternehmensberatungs last week, MOL announced on Monday. Megdet Rakhimkulov, whose fortunate is estimated at $1.2 billion, is likely to have earned as much as $175 million on the deal. Mr. Rakhimkulov declined to explain to Kommersant his decision to sell the stake.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 27, 2007
|
|
|
