“Many red lights are coming on”: experts wonder why Hungarians are suddenly interested in Lithuanian companies | Business

On Friday Delfi.ltbased on his own sources, announced that the Hungarian energy company MET Group, registered in Switzerland, might want to acquire the controlling stake in one of the largest Lithuanian industrial companies, Achemos grupė.

15min the source confirmed the information that L. Lubienė wants to sell the shares of the company. According to him, a legal assessment is currently being carried out at Achema. He also mentioned that the found buyer is possibly related to the gas business.

The transaction has not yet been officially confirmed – neither Achemas nor Met Group representatives to 15min did not respond to inquiries.

Recently, it became known regarding another plan of Hungarian investors – the largest Hungarian bank OTP wants to acquire Luminor, which operates in the Baltic States. Experts say it would take at least several months to complete such a deal.

However, such a sudden interest of Hungarians in our country started to raise questions and even suspicions for experts.

“You want to be an optimist and think that there is nothing behind it, but unfortunately we live in a time when political tensions greatly affect economic life as well”, – 15min mentioned Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) finance professor Rytis Krušinskas.

Can’t find reasons

The president of the Lithuanian Business Confederation (LVK) Andrius Romanovskis mentioned that, in his opinion, the news regarding the Hungarians’ desire to acquire “Achem” and “Luminor” must have come as a surprise to many. It was unexpected for him as well.

Lukas Balandis/BNS photo/Andrius Romanovskis

“And considering that a significant number of Hungarian businesses are closely connected with politics, it is hard to expect that these investors are not connected. After all, we know Hungary’s attitude towards Russia’s war in Ukraine, Hungary is also trying to maneuver in relations with Russia and China. There are many questions regarding Hungary, and they also want to acquire companies of such a huge size that are related to finance or important state activities.

A lot of red lights come on. The authorities responsible for security should check those businesses and answer the many questions that arise”, – 15min A. Romanovskis mentioned.