Reuters: Budapest Airport owners take potential first step towards sale

The owners of Liszt Ferenc International operator Budapest Airport have entered into a due diligence process with the Hungarian government, the operator’s majority shareholder German-based AviAlliance has said, calling it a potential first step in the sale of the airport, Reuters reported on Monday.

AviAlliance also confirmed that a consortium led by the Hungarian government had submitted a revised non-binding offer to buy the airport.

As we wrote before,

Hungary had offered 4.44 billion euros for the airport, a figure which neither its biggest shareholder AviAlliance GmbH, formerly Hochtief AirPort GmbH, nor the government confirmed.

It said in a statement that the Hungarian government had accepted its terms for starting formal negotiations, and that it had therefore decided to enter into a due diligence process.

“While this is potentially the first step towards the sale of the airport, we want to emphasise that the outcome of such a process is not predetermined”, AviAlliance added.

AviAlliance, which holds a 55.44 percent stake in Budapest Airport, is owned by Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments). Singapore’s state investment fund GIC and Canadian pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) each hold a little over 21 percent.

Since Orbán took power in 2010, his cabinet has boosted Hungarian ownership in strategic sectors such as media, energy, gambling, and banking.

Read also Hungarian state to take over Budapest Airport by the beginning of 2022

Source: MTI/Reuters