BUDAPEST (Dow Jones)--Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany reiterated Wednesday his government's stance that it will protect from hostile takeover companies judged to be of strategic importance, the prime minister's office said.
Gyurcsany made the comment in talks with Wolfgang Rutterstorfer, chief executive of Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG (OMV.VI), held in the Hungarian capitalWednesday, the office said in a statement.
Without consulting MOL management, OMV in June increased its stake in Hungarian peer MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU) to 18.6% from 10%, and indicated that it was interested in acquiring it.
MOL flatly refused the approach, and the Hungarian government has since said repeatedly that it is ready to protect MOL from hostile takeover by a company in which a foreign government has a stake.
Austria's state privatization and holding company OIAG holds 31.5% of OMV.
Gyurcsany told the OMV CEO that"Budapest considers it an unfriendly step if companies that play a key role in strategic industries are approached without prior consultation with the government." He added that his government would continue to uphold MOL's independence by all legal means, his office said.
The day after Rutterstorfer's meeting with the Hungarian prime minister, members of the Austrian and Hungarian goverments met for talks, also in Budapest, Thursday, in the latest session of a series of bilateral meetings, with the next one scheduled for Vienna next year.
At a press conference following the bilateral meeting, Gyurcsany told reporters that the MOL-OMV issue hadn't been discussed in those talks. "I don't see a solution materializing to this problem in the short term ... the two companies are in a deadlock and it's up to their managements to solve the situation," he said.
Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer similarly said it was better for governments not to meddle in what was an issue of cooperation between two companies.
Meanwhile, Hungarian Economics Minister Janos Koka said during a visit to Brussels Thursday that "Hungary could fine-tune" its recently passed anti-takeover legislation, state news agency MTI reported.
Koka's comment came after the European Union started an investigation into this recent law - dubbed Lex MOL - to determine whether it obstructs the free movement of capital.
Hungary has until mid-January to submit its reply to the commission regarding Lex MOL.