Hungary Buys Majority Stake in Passenger Shipping Company

Published Oct 16, 2013 7:54 AM by The Maritime Executive

Hungary's National Asset Manager MNV has bought a 51 percent stake in passenger shipping company Mahart Passnave, MNV and the Development Ministry said in a joint statement on Wednesday. The parties did not disclose the price.

"One purpose of state participation is to ensure the uniformity of domestic and foreign water tourism activity," said the statement, distributed ahead of a news conference staged on the Budapest conference ship.

It said medium and longer term investments in shipping and port development would become more effective and predictable.

The statement cited MNV chief executive Peter Marton as saying the company was expected to post annual profits worth over 500 million forints ($2.28 million) in the 2013-2015 period, rising to more than 600 million from 2017.

Mahart Passnave has a fleet of 22 ships, it said. ($1 = 219.21 Hungarian forints)

Reporting by Gergely Szakacs (C) Reuters 2013.

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