Generali Alapkezelo, the Hungarian fund manager unit of Generali and two of its investment funds raised their combined voting rights to 5.2% in Hungarian vehicle and vehicle parts maker Raba, the company said on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange.

Generali and its funds purchased 179,580 Raba shares on December 2, raising their holding to 653,663.

Raba shares traded at an average price of HUF 780 on the Budapest Stock Exchange on December 2, below the price of a planned state public purchase of the shares.

Hungarian state assets manager MNV announced a public purchase offer for Raba at a price of HUF 815 per share, well over the HUF 669 180-day average share price, on November 7. The state of Hungary already holds 16.15% of Raba at present through different funds, companies and organisations.

The offer was approved by financial market regulator PSZAF on November 8, and MNV said on November 23 it would file a request to the European Commission (EC) as a competition authority for approval of the transaction. MNV said at the time that four EU member states were affected by the transaction and an EC decision is expected in 2-4 months the earliest.

The bulk of the present state-owned shares are held by the state’s Pension Reform and Debt Reduction Fund, into which assets of former private pension fund members were transferred in the summer. DRB-Hicom Berhad, registered in Malaysia, holds 10.85% of the company’s shares. Both the fund and DRB Hicom Berhad agreed early in November to sell their shares to the state.

Two-thirds of Raba shares are in free float and 7.68% are treasury shares.