Finance Minister Péter Oszkó announced early on the morning of Saturday, 27 February, that the Hungarian state plans to convert the airline’s liabilities into a majority ownership stake. The news came after lengthy negotiations between the government and Malév’s Russian and Hungarian owners. The government has thus secured a 95 per cent stake in Malév valued at HUF 25.2 billion (EUR 94.59 million), largely in lieu of debts that the ailing carrier owed the state. The finance ministry had announced late last year that it was open to taking a majority stake in the persistently loss-making airline.
Malév has changed hands several times in recent years. In 2007 the government sold it for a token sum to Russian firm AirBridge, owned by the oligarch Boris Abramovich. As part of the deal, the new owner was committed to recapitalising the troubled airline. However, Abramovich’s Russian airline alliance AiRUnion went bankrupt in 2008, and his stake – down to 49 per cent after a private Hungarian investor acquired the other 51 per cent – in AirBridge was acquired by a creditor, the Russian state-owned bank Vneshekonombank.
AirBridge will continue to hold the remaining five per cent of Malév stock, of which ownership is split equally between Vneshekonombank and the businesswoman Magdolna Költõ.

Shakeup in the air

The left-wing daily Népszabadság reported that the government intends to replace the entire board of directors at Malév, with the exception of the current chief executive officer, the German Martin Gauss. The former 737 pilot and Cirrus Airlines boss announced a major restructuring at Malév immediately after his appointment in May last year. The paper also reported that Malév owes Budapest Airport over EUR 20 million and the airport’s operator is considering initiation liquidation proceedings against Malév if it does not cough up. The government clearly intends to demand more changes at its newly acquired airline. “Tough steps” are to be taken over the coming months to make Malev a profitable airline by 2012, the Finance Ministry said in a statement shortly after the nationalisation deal was struck.

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