EDISON GAS FALLS OUT OF COMPETITION TO PURCHASE INA SHARES

ZAGREB, Sept 13 (Hina) - The Edison Gas-Hellenic Petroleum consortium will most probably not be able to carry out the due diligence of Croatia's oil company, INA, next week, and Italy's Edison Gas might fall out of the competition of strategic partners in the process of purchasing INA's 25 percent plus one share, unofficial government sources said on Friday. #L# At the end of July, the Croatian government chose Edison Gas into the narrower circle of five potential strategic partners. According to government circles, however, Edison Gas was at the time told to enter a consortium with a company in the oil business. At the beginning of this week, the Office for Coordinating INA's Privatisation said that the Edison Gas-Hellenic Petroleum consortium was to begin its due diligence of INA's work. Government circles, however, saw the consortium as frivolous, that is, Edison Gas entry into a consortium with Hellenic Petroleum, a company which the government had already turned down. Hellenic Petroleum was one of ten companies which showed interest in buying INA's shares, but did not enter the narrower circle of five companies to be potential strategic partners. It was therefore, concluded that the consortium cannot perform the due diligence. Circles close to INA say they did not have any information about whether Edison Gas representatives would arrive on Monday to carry out the due diligence. Beside Edison Gas, the other four companies in the narrower circle are Austria's OMV, Hungary's MOL, and Russian companies Rosneft and Lukoil. The OMV, MOL and Rosneft have already carried out the due diligence. Potential strategic partners should start handing in their binding offers with the price they are prepared to pay for the 25 percent and one INA's share. (hina) lml