Hungarian government makes formal bid for Budapest Airport

Hungary has submitted a formal bid to acquire a majority stake in Budapest Airport.

According to Bloomberg, the transaction could be worth up to EUR 4 billions. According to the portal, the Hungarian state wants a 51% stake, while the remaining 49% could be acquired by another airport operator.

When asked by index.hu, Minister of Economic Development Márton Nagy said “the airport is a national strategic issue. Therefore, it is a huge mistake, and perhaps a crime, that the Gyurcsány government has handed it over to foreign hands. This has to be corrected. Discussions have started and are ongoing, but I cannot give you any more information on this for the moment. The best I can tell you is that Budapest Airport is bigger than the Vodafone deal.”

“Negotiations for the purchase of the airport are ongoing, and as soon as a sale and purchase agreement is reached, we will inform the public in due course,” the Ministry of Economic Development said.

The current majority owner of Budapest Airport, the German AviAlliance GmbH, also declined to comment on the matter.

AviAlliance has a 55.44% stake in Budapest Airport, Caisse de dépot et placement du Québec has a 21.23% stake and Malton/GIC has a 23.33% stake.