The government declared the acquisitions of “strategic importance for the national economy”, thereby exempting the transaction from Competition Office (GVH), official gazette Magyar Közlöny said yesterday.

Under a resolution passed by Parliament yesterday, MFB will acquire 51% plus one vote of shares in Budapest gas distributor Főgáz from its current owner, the National Asset Management Company (MNV), Hungarian news agency MTI reported today.

The same resolution mandated the sale of state-owned Hungarian Electricity Work’s MVM’s 49.8% stake in Főgáz to MFB by December 31, 2014. The sale, to MFB and its investment unit MFB Invest, was approved at an MVM shareholders’ meeting last Friday.