Updated: Budapest Airport Sold for 3.1 Billion Euros to State & French Co-Investor
- 30 Jul 2024 7:14 AM
- Hungary Matters
The purchase agreement on the Hungarian state and an associated investor acquiring Liszt Ferenc International Airport has been signed, Márton Nagy, the national economy minister said.
“We’ve got it back: the airport is once again in Hungarian hands,” he said.
The purchase involving state-owned Corvinus Zrt acquiring an 80% stake was made in partnership with French-owned Vinci Airports, which acquired 20%, the minister said. The purchase price was 3.1 billion euros.
An agreement was reached with a consortium of lenders on extending 1.44 billion euros of loans taken out by Budapest Airport’s former owners, AviAlliance, owned by Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board.
Budapest Airport's Repurchase 'Strategically Important'
The repurchase of Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport by the Hungarian state has been of strategic significance, Csaba Dömötör, state secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, said.
The airport is “a gateway to the country, to 15 million passengers, which number could even double in future,” he said on Facebook.
It reflects well its strategic importance that its turnover has tripled over the past 20 years and nearing records of pre-pandemic levels, Dömötör said.
“The airport generates profit for the country with a potential to pay a dividend of up to 35 billion forints (EUR 90m), so it doesn’t take money, it brings money to the state.”
The government announced in June the acquisition of an 80% stake in Liszt Ferenc operator Budapest Airport, partnering with French airport company Vinci which acquired a 20% stake.
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