Commission nods on Hungary's airport purchase, portal reports stalled talks
EU executive green-lights deal
The European Commission has announced today that it has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of joint control of Airport Holding Consulting Ltd. by Corvinus International Investment Zrt., both based in Hungary, and VINCI Airports, based in France.
The transaction mainly concerns the airport management and operation sector.
The Commission concluded that the proposed merger would not raise competition concerns, given that the parties are not present on the same or vertically related markets. The proposed transaction was examined under the simplified merger control procedure.
Negotiations stalled or not?
News portal 444.hu reported today that the negotiations on the purchase of the airport have stalled. The state would acquire a 51% stake and Vinci a 49% share, with operating rights. It would make sense for the French buyer to become a professional investor, putting a highly experienced management team in place to lead the company, but it is obvious that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his political-economic retinue want "the right Hungarian business circles" to benefit and make handsome profits, an expert on transport infrastructure told the news portal on condition of anonymity.
The source hear rumours that the negotiations balked because the government would not settle for "friendly businesses" making a pretty penny on related public investment projects, and wants Hungarian hands in the honey pot, i.e. in operating and managing the airport. Another speculation fitting into this assumption is that Economic Development Minister Márton Nagy raised the issue of a potential Qatari investor coming on board in a new consortium to buy Budapest Airport only as a bargaining chip.
Máté Lóga, state secretary in charge of economic development and international financial services at the Ministry of Economic Development, categorically denied such speculation when Portfolio enquired about the latest press reports.
The reports of stalled negotiations are not true, he said, adding that it is natural that negotiations take a long time when dealing with a multi-billion euro transaction. He stressed that all parties at the table have a stake in the success of this deal.
Also, there is no change in the intention that after the change of ownership, the Hungarian state will be the majority owner and the operating tasks will be carried out by the professional operator with a minority stake.
In this context, it is worth recalling the interview of Minister of Economic Development Márton Nagy, published on Wednesday, in which he said that the complexity of the case is that while there are three owners, the circle of creditors comprises 13 entities. In fact, it is the negotiation and agreement with the circle of creditors that consumes a lot of energy and time, and it is basically the creditors' trust that has to be won, the minister explained.
Asked how the Qatari player came back into the picture, Máté Lóga said that the negotiations are ongoing, the role of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) does not affect this. The purchase of Liszt Ferenc International Airport was solved without them, as the financing is secured and available to the state. The basic transaction, the takeover, is not affected by any future agreement with QIA, the Qatari investment agency.
He admitted to Portfolio that the government might come to an agreement with them in a second round. He also said that
the co-investor has no objection to that.
Cover photo: UA.
