Business 20 December 2023, 8:43am

Hungarian State sells its stake in Yettel to finance the airport buyback

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The Hungarian state will sell its 25% stake in Yettel and use the proceeds to finance the purchase of the Budapest Airport, according to a statement by the Ministry of Economic Development.

The Hungarian state-owned Corvinus International Investment Ltd. has concluded agreements on the sale of its 25% stake in Yettel Hungary Ltd. and Yettel Real Estate Hungary Ltd. and its 20% stake in CETIN Hungary Ltd., the Ministry of Economic Development (GFM) said on Tuesday. The buyer is the Dutch holding company TMT Hungary Holdco B.V., a member of the PPF Group.

The proceeds of the deal will be used by the state to finance thebuyback of Budapest Airport, the statement reads.

The role of the Hungarian state in the strategically important telecommunications sector - through the cooperation agreement with Magyar Telekom and Vodafone - will be maintained after the transaction, and Corvinus Ltd. will continue to hold a 29.5% stake in Vodafone Hungary, one of the leading players in the market, according to the statement.

Yettel's customers will not be directly affected by the change in ownership structure, and residential and business customers will continue to benefit from the company's services in the same form.

The 25% stake in Yettel was acquired by the Hungarian state in March, when 4iG (or more precisely its subsidiary Antenna Hungária) exchanged its stake in Yettel for a stake in Vodafone. Another change of ownership is also in the offing for Yettel, with a share sale and purchase agreement in August for Emirates Telecommunications Group to acquire 50% plus one share in PPF Telecom Group, making the Arab telecoms company the main owner of Yettel. A merger application was already filed with the Economic Competition Authority (GVH) at the end of November.

As is known, the Hungarian state is financing the acquisition of Budapest Airport, which is expected to be completed soon, by, among other things, the sale of non-strategic assets. In the past two months, the Hungarian state sold its stake in Erste for HUF 87.5 billion, reduced its stake in the Hungarian business of the Vienna Insurance Group, i.e. Alfa and Union, from 45 % to 10 %, and put Posta Insurance in the sale queue. However, the GFM did not confirm that the sale of these latter items may also serve to finance the airport's buyback.