How much is a share in Energopetrol worth: The government should not sell it for less than 50 KM

At the beginning of September, the Croatian oil company Ina offered to buy 33 percent of Energopetrol shares, owned by the Government of FBiH and minority shareholders, which would make Ina a 100% owner of the largest oil company in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was once state-owned.

Ina offered only 2.30 KM per share. For 1,812,664 shares in Energopetrol, owned by the Government of FBiH and minority shareholders, Ina offered 4,169,127 KM.

The Government of FBiH announced that this is an unrealistically low offer. They announced that the Government will send its offer to Ina. Therefore, the Government will not sell its shares in Energopetrol through the stock exchange, but will try to negotiate directly with Ina.

A high-ranking source from Energopetrol explains to Patria that the Government of FBiH should not ask for less than 50 KM per share. Energopetrol is indeed in bookkeeping debt of around 115 million KM above the company's capital value, but the market, real value of this company is very attractive.

- Energopetrol has as many as 62 active gas stations in BiH. If we consider that an average gas station is worth around four million KM, we see that the total value of Energopetrol's gas stations is around 250 million KM. If we divide this amount by about 5.5 million shares, which is how many Energopetrol has, we get that one share in Energopetrol is worth about 45 KM. Here, we need to include all inactive gas stations in Energopetrol, the company's buildings located in the most attractive part of Sarajevo, as well as other real estate – says this source.

There are many unknowns regarding Ina's role in the BiH market. The Ina-MOL consortium recapitalized Energopetrol in 2006, and already in 2009, the Financial Police sent a report on criminal offenses committed during the recapitalization to the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo.

The contract signed between the Government of FBiH and the Croatian-Hungarian consortium Ina-MOL has not been respected from the beginning.
The consortium did not invest the money it committed to in the contract into Energopetrol. Instead of investments, the Croatian-Hungarian consortium burdened the once strongest BiH oil company with new debts. Thus, Energopetrol fell into deficit due to poor management of the company. There are serious indications that this was done intentionally to devalue the company and sell it for cheap.

In mid-July, Ina took over 33.5 percent ownership in Energopetrol from its Hungarian partner MOL. After that, it officially became the majority owner of Energopetrol and the largest individual distributor of oil derivatives in BiH. Ina is now trying to take full control of Energopetrol, writes NAP.