15.11.05
Hungary has received 3 binding bids for a 75 percent minus one share stake in Budapest Airport, the operator of Hungary's largest international airport, the privatisation agency APV said yesterday.
BAA, Germany's Hochtief AG and Frankfurt airport operator Fraport AG placed binding bids, APV said after the tender closed. Australia's Macquarie Airports Holding Ltd and Denmark's Copenhagen Airports A/S, who were also invited to bid, did not place bids.
An earlier tender had attracted a top bid of nearly $2 billion (£1.15 billion) but was cancelled when a court declared it invalid because the APV failed to sufficiently consult workers as required by law. The airport sale has also been threatened by Hungary's opposition Fidesz party which said it would renationalise it, if it wins power in elections to be held in spring of 2006.
