Hungarian High Court Upholds Exclusion of Surgutneftegas from MOL’s AGM

November 19, 2010

The Budapest Metropolitan High Court of Appeal has upheld the refusal of Hungarian energy company MOL to register Russian oil major Surgutneftegas for the annual general meeting (AGM) of shareholders in 2009, MOL said in a statement on Thursday.

The high court made the final ruling in the case upholding an earlier ruling of another Budapest court which had rejected Surgutneftegas’ claim against MOL.

Surgutneftegas filed its claim after the board of directors of MOL refused to include Surgutneftegas in the registry of shareholders eligible to take part in the AGM in 2009.

Surgutneftegas bought a 21.2% stake in MOL in 2009 for 1.4 billion euros. However, the deal has been opposed by MOL’s management and the Hungarian government.