OREANDA-NEWS. OMV has signed an agreement to sell its subsidiary in Croatia, OMV Hrvatska d.o.o. - a 100%-owned subsidiary of OMV Refining & Marketing GmbH - to the Croatian company Crodux. OMV has been in the retail and commercial business in Croatia since 1992. OMV Hrvatska d.o.o. employs 63 staff members at its head office in Zagreb. With 62 filling stations in the country, OMV currently has a market share of around 13%.

“Shortly after the sale of our marketing subsidiary in Bosnia-Herzegovina this transaction underlines our ability to execute our strategy”, says Manfred Leitner, OMV Executive Board member responsible for Refining and Marketing.

Previously, OMV Petrol Ofisi, OMV’s Turkish subsidiary, already sold its 52% stake in the Cypriot retail company Kibris Turk Petrolleri Limited Sirketi at the end of November 2011. Furthermore, OMV Petrom sold its subsidiary Petrom LPG SA in January 2013.

At the end of November 2012, an agreement concerning the sale of the subsidiary in Bosnia-Herzegovina, OMV BH d.o.o., was signed.

The OMV strategy aims at a sharpened and simplified company portfolio. This includes gradually shifting the portfolio away from Refining and Marketing towards Exploration and Production. OMV will continue focusing the retail and commercial business on markets with integrated supplies. The OMV filling stations in Croatia have not been within the delivery area of OMV refinery Schwechat, therefore a sale of these assets was pursued. Following the completion of this transaction, OMV will have no further Refining and Marketing activities in the country.

The deal is expected to be closed in the first half of 2013 following approval of competition authorities. The companies have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

With Group sales of EUR 34.05 bn and a workforce of 29,800 employees in 2011, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies. In Exploration and Production, OMV is active in two core countries Romania and Austria and holds a balanced international portfolio. OMV had proven oil and gas reserves of approximately 1.13 bn boe as of year-end 2011 and a production of around 288,000 boe/d in 2011. In Gas and Power, OMV sold approximately 272 TWh of gas in 2011. In Austria, OMV operates a 2,000 km long gas pipeline network with a marketed capacity of around 101 bcm in 2011. With a trading volume of around 47 bcm/a, OMV’s gas trading platform, the Central European Gas Hub, is amongst the most important hubs in Continental Europe. In Refining and Marketing, OMV has an annual refining capacity of 22 mn t and as of the end of 2011 approximately 4,500 filling stations in 13 countries including Turkey. OMV further strengthened its position through the ownership of a 97% stake in Petrol Ofisi, Turkey’s leading company in the retail and commercial business.