Placing INA shares on the stock market was one of the four objectives of the government at the beginning of its term, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said after the signing ceremony.
In this historic process, all have participated in creating a new stock market culture - for the first time Croatian citizens and institutional investors took part in privatisation, Sanader said.
"This privatisation procedure is part of efforts to integrate Croatia with the most modern European and world trends. The government has carried out this demanding operation both on the domestic and foreign capital markets, and by participating in it, Croatian citizens have demonstrated that Croatia is mature to fully join the most modern financial trends in this segment as well," the PM said.
Sanader went on to say that according to government estimates, as well as independent experts, INA has a real prospect of further development and value growth.
He announced for the spring of next year the public offer of 20 percent of shares of the HT telecommunications company.
The agreement on the listing of INA shares on the Zagreb Stock Exchange was signed by Zagreb Stock Exchange manager Roberto Motusic and INA CEO Tomislav Dragicevic.
"Anyone who has bought INA shares has made a good deal," Dragicevic said commenting on the interest in the shares as well as the interest of investors in the first hour of trading on the stock market.
Raiffeisenbank CEO Zdenko Adrovic said that the overall demand for INA shares amounted to 19.6 billion kuna, with domestic investors accounting for 5.3 billion.
The greatest interest in INA shares was demonstrated by investors from continental Europe (44.1%), followed by investors from Great Britain (29.4%), Croatia (17.3%), and the United States (9%).
Of the shares offered for sale, 71 percent was bought by domestic investors - citizens (56%) and institutional investors (15%). AZ Pension Fund has become the biggest individual INA shareholder.
Sanader announced that seven percent of INA shares would soon be offered for sale to INA's former and current employees.