(Vienna/Budapest) Wiener Börse AG and Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG announced today that they have received the approval of the Hungarian Financial Market Authority (PSZÁF) on their acquisition of the shares of UniCredit Bank Hungary Zrt., Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG, Erste Group Bank AG and Erste Befektesi. The stake owned by Wiener Börse AG is now 50.453%, while Oesterreichische Kontrollbank's share has widened to 18.345%.
The total share held by the Austrian consortium is still 68.798%.
“We continue to attach great importance to cooperation. We will develop and present concrete measures to activate the Hungarian capital market jointly with the management of the Budapest Stock Exchange, major Hungarian market players and listed companies,” said Michael Buhl, Member of the Management Board of Wiener Börse AG.
There were 42 companies listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange and market capitalization was EUR 26bn (source: FESE) as of the end of August. The acquisition of the investment in the Budapest Stock Exchange by the originally Austro-Hungarian banking consortium took place in May 2004, and ever since, the two stock exchanges have been working together in different areas such as data vending, indices and the introduction of structured products.