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MÁV Railway Subsidiary to Be Taken Over by a Private Operator

Hungary Today 2023.10.11.

One of MÁV’s most important subsidiaries will be taken over by a Hungarian private operator. This will finally allow the 40-year-old railway fleet to be renewed.

About 75 percent of MÁV Vagon Kft. will be privatized, the MÁV-Volán Group announced. The decision was made by the government. The development is not without precedent, as Transport Minister János Lázár has repeatedly indicated the need to create private equity in the company. According to the state-owned company, this will make the group’s rail vehicle development and maintenance more efficient.

As they wrote,

the involvement of private capital will improve and simplify the process of maintenance and production of railway vehicles.

However, they stressed that MÁV Vagon will remain a subsidiary of MÁV-Volán (bus company). This means that the employment conditions of staff will not be affected by the change in ownership structure. The new majority shareholder of the company will be Magyar Vagon Zrt., the owner of Dunakeszi Járműjavító (Dunakeszi Vehicle Repair Center), which is a major player in the Hungarian rail vehicle manufacturing and maintenance market. The contract is expected to be signed in mid-October.

According to company information registers, Magyar Vagon Zrt. is private equity fund Solva II. At the close of the last financial year 2022, the Magyar Vagon Zrt. ownership resolution states that Gran Private Equity Zrt. acted on behalf of the Solva II Private Equity Fund, as the sole owner of Magyar Vagon Zrt. exercising the rights of the shareholders’ meeting. Gran Private Equity Zrt. is owned by businessman Zsolt Hernádi; therefore, Magyar Vagon Zrt. is linked to the CEO of MOL.

The sale of MÁV Vagon will increase the operational and business capability of MÁV-Start’s rolling stock, which is responsible for passenger rail transport, and ultimately improve overall service quality and passenger satisfaction. This will help meeting the government’s target of significantly reducing the average age of the MÁV-Volán group’s fixed-route rolling stock to 40 years. This requires the procurement and production of modern rolling stock.

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Via: vg.hu Featured image: Pixabay.


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