Hungary has acquired stakes over the 5% disclosure requirement in automotive industry company Rába and geothermal energy company PannErgy ─ both listed in category A of the Budapest Stock Exchange ─ in a move of private pension fund assets, announcements by the two companies revealed.
The Pension Reform and Debt Reduction Fund, established to take over assets of private pension funds, acquired 1,577,558 shares of Rába carrying 11.71% of voting rights on June 8, Rába said early Friday. Also on June 8, the fund acquired 1,148,418 shares of PannErgy corresponding to 5.45% of voting rights, PannErgy said late Thursday. Both companies were informed of the changes in ownership by government debt management agency ÁKK.
The stake acquired by the state in Rába was worth HUF 1.24 billion and the stake in PannEgy HUF 993 million, calculating with closing prices on Thursday.
The transfer made the state Rába’s biggest owner, a position earlier held by the DRB Hicom Group, which held 10.85% of the shares on February 28. It probably reduced the 9.12% stake in Aegon Magyarország investment fund manager, the only other shareholder with a stake over the disclosure threshold. Rába held 921,186 treasury shares, or close to 7% registered capital, on June 9.
The PannErgy stake could have come from smaller packets and probably left the other big owners’ stakes unchanged. On May 2, PannErgy’s biggest owner was Benji Invest, with an ownership stake of 11.42%, followed by assets manager Lazarus, with a stake of 9.62%, and East Capital, holding 5.09%. PannErgy held 13.06% of its own shares, including 5.39% held by its units.
Hungarian private pension fund members had until the end of January to opt out of a move, together with their pension assets, to the state pension scheme. About 97% of private pension fund members are returning to the national scheme. These Hungarians will get any yield on their assets over the rate of inflation.
PannErgy closed at HUF 865 on June 9, down from HUF 883 on May 31, the evaluation day for the calculation of real yields due to former private pension fund members. Raba rose from HUF 775 on May 31 to HUF 788 on June 9.
Legislation stipulates that private pension funds must complete the transfer of the assets ─ based on May 31 ─ to the Pension Reform and Debt Reduction Fund by June 12. The effective deadline for the transfer is June 14, however, as June 12 and 13 are market holidays, financial market regulator PSzÁF said in a document published on June 3 instructing the funds on tasks and deadlines related to the transfer.
Pension fund association Stabilitás said on June 2 that HUF 2,800 billion in private pension fund assets are being transferred to the state pension pillar, citing preliminary data. The real yields on the assets as well as other extra payments, which pension members may ask for in cash, are expected to come to HUF 260 billion, the association said.
Shares listed on the Budapest bourse made up about 6% of private pension fund assets at the end of 2010, the latest available data show. Shares of OTP Bank, oil and gas company MOL, drug maker Richter, Magyar Telekom and pharmaceutical company Egis made up the biggest weight among private pension funds’ shares portfolios, but the biggest combined stakes in individual companies were in Rába and printing company Állami Nyomda.
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