Austria's OMV throws in towel in battle for Hungary's MOL

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

VIENNA (AFP) — Austrian oil and gas giant OMV finally threw in the towel on Wednesday in its long battle to buy Hungarian rival MOL, announcing it was withdrawing its bid in the face of EU opposition to the deal.

A merger would have created one of Europe's biggest oil and gas groups, with an estimated capitalisation of 27 billion euros (42 billion dollars).

Both the Hungarian government and MOL, which deemed OMV's 14-billion-euro bid as hostile, welcomed the decision.

OMV said it had decided to "revoke its intention to make an offer to shareholders of MOL of 32,000 Hungarian forint (136.2 euros, 211.35 dollars) per share."

The decision finally closes the book on OMV's long-running battle to take over MOL and create a central European energy...