OREANDA-NEWS. December 04, 2012. With this move, OMV Refining & Marketing has completed the next step in implementing the defined divestment program that contributes to reduce the weighting of the Refining and Marketing division in the overall OMV portfolio.
OMV BH d.o.o is being sold to the Serbian company NIS, a vertically integrated oil company based in South East Europe.
NIS will take over all 22 employees, a fuel terminal and 28 filling stations as well as the local head office of OMV BH d.o.o in Sarajevo.

OMV has signed an agreement to sell its subsidiary in Bosnia-Herzegovina, OMV BH d.o.o, a 100%-owned subsidiary of OMV Refining & Marketing GmbH, to the Serbian oil company NIS.
 In Bosnia-Herzegovina, OMV has been active in the retail and commercial business since 2001. There are 22 employees in the head office of OMV BH d.o.o in Sarajevo. The market share of the 28 filling stations is estimated at 8%.

“With this move, we have completed another important step in implementing the OMV strategy which aims at optimizing our Refining and Marketing portfolio by divesting non-core marketing assets.” 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 Tьrk Petrolleri Limited Sirketi at the end of November 2011. Furthermore, OMV Petrom announced the sale of its subsidiary Petrom LPG SA in June 2012.

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 Bosnia-Herzegovina did not fit optimally into the OMV supply chain, therefore a sale of these assets was pursued. Following the completion of this transaction, OMV will have no further activities in the country.

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