According to local media sources the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Hungary confirmed that the Central Bank is conducting talks with the Austrian CEESEG AG about the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE).
Though the actual intention of buying a stake in the BSE has not been confirmed, the explanation of the Deputy Governor made it apparent that the Central Bank would be willing to strengthen its influence on the local capital market by increasing its ownership rate in the BSE and concrete steps could be expected within a few months.
Both CEESEG AG and the Central Bank of Hungary own stakes in the Budapest Stock exchange with the former owning 50.45251% and the latter 6.94939%. It is still unclear whether the Central Bank will buy only CEESEG's stake or also another 18.34505% of Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG.
Impact on investors: By increasing its stake in the BSE, one of the goals of the Central Bank may be to boost trading on the Budapest exchange which on the one hand would have a positive impact on investors by providing them with new investment opportunities in Hungary. On the other hand, Hungarian companies would be in a better position to attract capital by listing their shares on the BSE.