The fact that the government has managed to put an end to this matter will open the way for a truly 21st-century partnership between Russia and Hungary, the prime minister’s spokesman Péter Szijjártó said, speaking of the government’s buyback of a 21.2% stake in Hungarian oil and gas company MOL from state-owned Russian peer Surgutneftegas in a morning news show of state television MTV.
Szijjártó said “the conflict between Surgutneftegas and MOL was causing problems for everyone”.
“This was also one of the obstacles to the dynamic growth of bilateral relations,” he said.
“Everyone felt that there was something wrong here, court procedure, failure to register the ownership, undisclosed ownership background, permanent conflicts – these also made relations between the two countries strained,” Szijjártó said.
Responding to criticism that the deal has increased Hungary’s net government debt, the spokesman said only a strong country can reduce its government debt.
“If a window of opportunity opens up for a country to get back its national assets that were wasted earlier through senseless privatization and to increase its value, it must grab that opportunity”.
“I believe this [deal] has greater significance than the transaction in itself as MOL is a strategic company, which is very important not only for the economy, but for national security as well,” the spokesman said.
Szijjártó said that, according to preliminary calculations, a stake of around 2.4% returning from the private pension fund assets to state ownership will be added to the 21.2% share packet, which will increase the state-owned stake in MOL to 23.6%.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced the deal on Tuesday. The state of Hungary will pay Surgutneftegas €1.88 billion for the stake in the transaction expected to be closed by August 31, 2011.
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
