Socialist MPs submitted a bill on Tuesday that would amend Hungary's Privatisations Act to enable the government to hold long term its single preference share in the national oil and gas company MOL. The special share gives the Hungarian state the right of veto over strategic decisions taken by the MOL board of directors. The Russian firm Surgutneftegaz bought a 21 per cent stake in MOL from Austrian energy company OMV in late March, paying double the market price per share and prompting fears of a hostile takeover bid. An earlier takeover bid by OMV itself was stymied by government legislation before the Austrian firm gave up in August 2008 after the European Commission raised objections to a merger with MOL. The Hungarian Socialist Party, the largest group in the Hungarian parliament, also seeks through the present bill to keep a 25-per cent stake in the Hungarian pharmaceutical firm Richter Gedeon in state hands.
