Hungarian Government To Buy MKB Bank
- 25 Jul 2014 9:00 AM
MKB owner BayernLB has agreed to sell the Hungarian bank to the government for €55 million, it was announced yesterday in Munich and Budapest. As part of the deal, BayernLB will cancel the €270 million debt owed to it by MKB.
“This was the best bid”, the German bank said in answer to a question about the low price.
The German bank, 75% owned by the state of Bavaria, is under an EU order to sell MKB by the end of 2015, as part of a government bailout deal agreed after the 2008 financial crisis.
The transaction will increase Hungarian ownership in the banking sector from 30% to 40%, approaching the government’s target of 50%, Napi Gazdaság points out.
Economy Minister Mihály Varga said the state aims to improve MKB in order to sell it in the short term, meaning one or two years.
Source: Hungary Around the Clock
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