The Government vetoes takeover bid of Hungarian Magyar Wagon for Talgo

The Diplomat The Foreign Investment Board of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise has denied the Public Acquisition Offer (OPA) presented by the Hungarian group Magyar Vagon to acquire 100% of Talgo. The Executive refers to “reasons of national security” for not authorizing the purchase of the Spanish company, according to sources from the Government confirmed to Europa Press. The Foreign Investment Board is the body in charge of evaluating the acquisition operations of Spanish companies following a law approved in the middle of the pandemic to prevent the fall in the stock market of companies from being taken advantage of by firms from other countries to take control of Spanish companies. The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility had already anticipated last March that the Government would do "everything possible" to stop this operation, due to fears of the possible links of the Hungarian company with Putin's Russia and the extreme right. Specifically, 45% of the capital of the Hungarian consortium that intended to buy Talgo is controlled by Corvinus, a Hungarian state fund, a country now governed by Viktor Orbán, who has recently entered into conflict with the European Union itself due to its unilateral rapprochement with Russia and its opposition to accepting refugee quotas. In fact, Magyar Vagon's director, András Tombor, was an advisor to the Hungarian government, which Orbán also led as prime minister between 1998 and 2002. In this regard, the Foreign Investment Board argues for reasons of national security, in line with the message that Puente already launched in April, saying that this takeover bid posed a strategic problem because Talgo has technology that affects the military mobility of other European countries such as the Baltic countries. In addition, the Government doubted whether Magyar Vagon's factories in Hungary had sufficient capacity to solve all of Talgo's production problems. For this reason, representatives of Puente's Ministry have recently visited these facilities to help make a decision. The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) decided to suspend the listing of Talgo with immediate effect.

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