By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungary’s nationalist government has repurchased the country’s main international airport as it tries to make Budapest a hub for Chinese tourists.
In one of the most complicated deals since the collapse of Communism, the Hungarian state and an associated investor acquired the Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport for 3.1 billion euros ($3.3 billion), officials said.
Hungarian government-owned Corvinus International Investment and France’s Vinci Airports also assumed a net debt of 1.2 euros billion ($1.3 billion), the cabinet confirmed
Márton Nagy, the national economy minister, said. “We’ve got it back: the airport is once again in Hungarian hands,” he added.
The sellers were German operator AviAlliance GmbH, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte, and Canada-based Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec.
Corvinus will hold an 80 percent stake, while Vinci will own the rest.
MASSIVE BUYBACK
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who returned to power in 2010, has long sought to buy back the airport sold to a consortium led by Germany’s AviAlliance almost two decades ago.
“We have recovered a unique good… Our plan is to rapidly increase its value,” the nationalist leader stressed, praising the French partner’s know-how while evoking future “plans to involve the Qataris.”
It also comes while the prime minister seeks to make Budapest and the rest of Hungary a hub for China’s tourists and investments.
The airport deal was signed less than a month after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Hungary.
While most European Union countries make efforts to “de-risk” their economies from perceived threats posed by China, Hungary has gone in the other direction.
Budapest Airport, Europe’s 39th busiest, estimates it will attract nearly 17 million passengers this year, up from 14.7 million in 2023.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
The Trump administration has finalized a sweeping reciprocal trade agreement with Taiwan, confirming a 15 percent U.S. tariff rate on Taiwanese imports while securing broad new market access and purchase commitments for American goods.
Democrats are applauding White House border czar Tom Homan’s Thursday announcement that immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota will end next week.
Democrats in the U.S. Senate tanked the Homeland Security full-year funding bill in a last-ditch vote Thursday, all but guaranteeing a partial government shutdown starting Saturday.
Mourners in a remote Canadian town grappled Thursday with the aftermath of one of the country’s deadliest school shootings in decades, as families, survivors and leaders reacted to the tragedy that left eight victims — most of them children — dead, along with the 18-year-old suspect.
A gunman who opened fire at a school in southern Thailand’s Hat Yai city on Wednesday wounded a teacher and a student before being detained, authorities said, in a rare attack that sent students and staff into panic.
The Republican-led House of Representatives has passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, advancing legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification at the polls. The bill now heads to the Senate, where its future remains uncertain amid strong Democratic opposition.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that its advanced David’s Sling air and missile defense system has completed a series of complex modernized tests, a development officials say bolsters the country’s defensive posture as tensions with Iran escalate and the United States prepares military options that could include direct strikes.