"The government has put aside Ft 10 billion of its own general reserves for the capitalisation of Malév and put money at the disposal of the national asset manager (MNV), the official gazette Magyar Közlöny wrote yesterday.In addition the MNV will add a further Ft 7.3 billion from its reserves for the expenses from the renationalisation, meaning a total of Ft 17.3 billion is available for Malév.
The state will convert into shares Malév’s Ft 4.7 billion debt, which represents the money it loaned to buy Malév Ground Handling.
The government resolution, nevertheless has not mentioned how the rest of the Ft 25.3 billion will be covered, Népszabadság writes.
AirBridge, which is owned by Russian bank Vnesheconombank, will obtain a 5% stake in Malév by converting the €5.4 million loan given by AirBridge to Malév to shares.
The agreement reached also covers Vnesheconombank loans to Malév, which will be converted into five-year loans at Euribor plus 5% interest. By the end of this period the Hungarian state has promised not to reduce its stake to under 25% plus one share in the airline.
Contrary to earlier plans, the government did not give Ft 17 billion from the general reserves to the Budapest public transport company (BKV) because it would be over the amount available for the first half. The government instead opted to give Ft 5 billion from the unused reserves of 2009."
Source: Hungary Around the Clock.
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04.03.2010