It's official: The Hungarian state has bought back Budapest Airport

The Hungarian state has repurchased the company operating Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport, Vg.hu reports, citing a statement by the Ministry of Economy on Thursday.

According to the statement published by MTI, "the ownership of the airport is a matter of sovereignty, having strategic importance not only for passenger transport and tourism, but also for freight transport, as the airport is an artery of economic circulation".

According to the statement, the acquisition cost €3.1 billion (or roughly HUF 1 200 billion) and the successful agreement made with the consortium of lenders extended the €1.44 billion loan taken out by the previous owners.

The Hungarian state had been planning to buy Budapest Airport in partnership with Vinci Airports of France, the world's largest airport operator. The state has now purchased an 80 percent stake in the airport, while Vinci Airports will own 20 percent. But state ownership could eventually drop to 51 per cent once the deal is completed, as the government would sell part of it to Qatari investor QIA. Vinci Airports is a global leader in the sector and operates 65 airports in 13 countries.

According to Telex sources, the airport will be managed by Vinci, which has extensive experience in airport management. Thursday's statement also said that the ministry and Vinci will present future plans at a joint press conference in early July.

At the end of last year, the Hungarian state sold a number of assets to raise the money needed to buy the airport. Most recently, Corvinus International Investment Zrt, which is 100 percent owned by the Hungarian state, successfully sold its stakes in Erste Bank Hungary Zrt and Yettel Hungary, as well as most of its stakes in Hungarian VIG companies (the state reduced its 45 percent stake to 10 percent).

In April, PM Orbán said that the purchase of Liszt Ferenc Airport could be completed within days, meaning that Budapest Airport could become majority state-owned. Last December, the European Commission approved the acquisition of joint control over Airport Holding Tanácsadó Kft (Budapest Airport Holding) by Hungarian Corvinus International Investment Ltd and Vinci.

Budapest Airport has previously been under British and then German majority ownership, while in recent years, its ownership structure has been dominated by a Canadian group. The biggest shareholder with 55,44 percent has been the German AviAlliance GmBH, which is ultimately backed by a gigantic Canadian pension fund. AviAlliance also issued a statement on Thursday announcing that its shareholders had sold their stake to the duo of Corvinus and Vinci.