Acquisition of Budapest Airport may conclude within days, says PM Orban

Reuters
Updated ·1 min read
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BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The acquisition of Budapest Airport could conclude "within days", Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in parliament on Monday, signalling an end to months of negotiations with majority owner AviAlliance.

Since Orban took power in 2010, his government has boosted Hungarian ownership in energy, banking, telecoms and the media, and has been planning to buy the airport for years.

"We hope that within days, the airport... will be owned in majority by the state", he said. Hungary's government submitted its binding offer in September 2023.

In 2021, Orban's government submitted a non-binding offer to buy the airport, but the process was later halted amid high inflation and volatility in global financial markets.

Economy minister Marton Nagy said earlier in 2023 the financing of the package could include budget funds and development bank money. He did not say which assets the government might sell.

(Reporting by Boldizsar Gyori; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)