Budapest Airport owners take first step towards sale to Hungarian govt

The owners of Budapest Airport have entered into a due diligence process with the Hungarian government, its majority shareholder said on Monday, potentially the first step towards a sale of the asset to the state. PM Viktor Orban, a nationalist often at loggerheads with the European Commission, has said for months that he wants to see the airport in domestic hands, but its owners had so far expressed no interest in selling it. Local media reported late last month that Hungary had offered E4.44b for the airport, a figure which neither its biggest shareholder AviAlliance GmbH, formerly Hochtief AirPort GmbH, nor the government confirmed. But AviAlliance confirmed on Monday that a consortium led by the Hungarian government had submitted a revised non-binding offer to buy the airport. “The Hungarian government has accepted our terms and conditions for starting formal negotiations. Therefore we have decided to enter into a due diligence process,” AviAlliance said. “While this is potentially the first step towards the sale of the airport, we want to emphasise that the outcome of such a process is not predetermined.” <br/>