The website, veol.hu, said eight offers were received by the deadline on September 1, but just one party aimed to buy the company’s chemical industry technology. A project company, IC Profil, is expected to sign the contract on purchasing the assets by the end of this year.

MAL was fined HUF 135 bln in 2011 for environmental damage caused by a toxic sludge spill at its plant in Ajka (northwestern Hungary). A reservoir at the plant ruptured in October 2010, sending a flood of red sludge through surrounding villages that killed ten people and damaged hundreds of homes. The event was Hungary’s worst ever environmental disaster.