Stock Market Experts: One Billion Euros MOL Reportedly Paid for NIS below Market Value

Gazprom petrol station (BETAPHOTO/DRAGAN GOJIC)

Stock market experts said on Jan. 26 that, if reports that the Hungarian MOL paid between EUR900 million to one billion for Gazprom Neft's 56.15-percent stake in the Serbian oil company NIS were accurate, the price was below market value.

This may mean that buying an additional five percent in NIS from MOL would cost Serbia EUR90 to 100 million.

Nenad Gujanicic, head broker at the Momentum Securities brokerage, told BETA that the price MOL paid was under market expectations, but that the price may have been affected by circumstances -- the sale was forced and NIS was taking losses, especially since the sanctions of the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control came into force.

"That means that 100 percent of shares in NIS is worth close to two billion -- near the bottom of the range of market expectations, which were between two and three billion euros for 100 percent of capital," Gujanicic said.

He added that the fact that OFAC had to sign off on the sale had narrowed the pool of potential buyers, which allowed "MOL to buy a good company at a bargain price."

Branislav Jorgic, an expert in stock trading, said he was surprised by Gazprom Neft's price, if it was reported accurately, and that in his estimate the Russian stake should have been between EUR1.5 and 1.6 billion.

"If that was the final price for MOL, it's a shame that Serbia didn't buy that stake in NIS, but it's a good thing at least that the five-percent bundle for Serbia will be cheap and cost some EUR100 million," Jorgic said.