Spain has rejected a bid by Hungary’s Ganz-Mavag Europe Zrt. to buy train maker Talgo SA, saying the proposed deal could have compromised its strategic interests and threatened national security.

The offer presented “insurmountable risks” to public order, the Madrid-based government said in a statement Tuesday. The information portion of a dossier connected to the statement was qualified as classified.

[…]

The ruling ends the Hungarian conglomerate’s controversial bid to take control of the Madrid-based train maker amid opposition from the government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, which drew attention to its links to Hungary’s nationalist government. Ganz-Mavag is owned by a private equity fund managed by state oil company Mol Nyrt., whose management is allied with Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The failed deal underscores political tensions within the European Union, which has accused Orban of promoting a culture of cronyism and corruption. For his part the Hungarian premier, whose country currently holds the rotating council presidency of the 27-state bloc, has openly opposed EU aid to Ukraine.

[…]

Spain passed exceptional regulations in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic that allow the government to block takeovers of local corporations by EU-based foreign ones. These rules are set to expire by year’s end, to align with EU regulations which traditionally demand that members give the same treatment to their own companies and to those from other member states.

  • Vincent@feddit.nl
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    3 months ago

    Spain passed exceptional regulations in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic that allow the government to block takeovers of local corporations by EU-based foreign ones. These rules are set to expire by year’s end, to align with EU regulations which traditionally demand that members give the same treatment to their own companies and to those from other member states.

    So… Can they just try again next year?