HungaryTrends – The previous week in business and finance

See below main business and financial news from the previous week:

OPEL LAUNCHES PRODUCTION OF NEW ENGINE AT HUNGARY BASE

French-owned car maker Opel launched production of a three-cylinder turbo petrol engine at its plant in Szentgotthárd, western Hungary, following a 38 million euro investment.

Read alsoNew York Palace in Budapest sold to French real estate company

The engines will be built into Opel, Peugeot and Citroen models.

The Szentgotthárd plant has capacity to turn out 350,000 engines a year.

OTP TO BOOST MARKET SHARE IN SLOVENIA, PULL OUT OF SLOVAKIA

OTP Bank aims to raise its market share in Slovenia to 25-30 percent in the long term, chairman-CEO Sándor Csányi said, weeks after the lender entered the market with the acquisition of SKB Banka, which has a market share of close to 10 percent. He said OTP wants to achieve that goal through organic growth and acquisitions. Meanwhile, the Slovakian press reported that

OTP would sell its unit there.

OTP Banka Slovensko, which has market share of about 3 percent, confirmed talks on its sale are underway.

Read alsoThe popularity of Budapest spas continued to grow in 2019

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM MCI GROUP SELLS NETRISK STAKE FOR EUR 55M

MCI.EuroVentures, a fund of Warsaw-based private equity firm MCI Group, sold a stake in Hungarian insurance broker Netrisk to peer TA Associates for 55 million euros. MCI Group will retain a 23.7 percent stake in Netrisk “to actively help build value for the insurtech leader on a larger, regional scale”, the firm said.

DUNA HOUSE ACQUIRES ANOTHER POLISH LOAN BROKER FOR AROUND HUF 340M

Listed real estate broker Duna House Group acquired Polish loan broker Alex T Great for a price of 4.3 million zlotys, or about 340 million forints (EUR 1.0m).

The acquisition is expected to boost the company’s brokered loan volume in Poland by about 60 percent, Duna House said.

Read alsoHungarian state puts 240-year-old porcelain manufactory on sale

INDUSTRY INSIDERS AUGUR STAGNATING NEW CAR SALES THIS YEAR

The Hungarian Association of Vehicle Importers (MGE) expects new car sales this year to reach 155,000, slightly under last year’s sales. MGE chairman Péter Erdélyi said the professional association expects little change in sales this year, though its sees sales of fully-electric vehicles climbing 40 percent.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS MORE THAN 100 BIG INVESTMENTS IN 2019

Hungary’s government supported 101 big investments by local and foreign companies last year, a new record, the foreign minister said. The government supported the investments, worth a combined 1,705 billion forints, with 156 billion in grant money, said Peter Szijjarto.

Source: MTI