Factbox: Hungarian firm MAL, owner of burst red mud reservoir

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian aluminum maker MAL owns the red sludge reservoir at an alumina plant in western Hungary that burst last week, killing eight people.

Following are some details about the company:

* Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company (MAL Zrt), headquartered in Ajka, western Hungary, produces various alumina products and aluminum casting alloys. It stopped raw aluminum production in 2006 but continues to produce recycled aluminum.

* MAL owns subsidiaries in Germany, Romania, Bosnia and Slovenia. It exports 80 percent of its output, most of it to the European Union, according to a statement by the company. MAL has a market share of 12 percent in alumina products in Europe and 4 percent globally, the company says.

* The company's 2008 net sales were about 42 billion forints ($213.4 million) with a pre-tax profit of about 195 million forints, according to local news reports. MAL employs 1,100 people, making it the key employer in the Ajka area.

* MAL was founded in 1995. It bought key pieces of the former communist Hungarian aluminum industry, including bauxite mines, alumina factories and an aluminum foundry, through privatization.

* MAL is still privately owned. Its owners are some of Hungary's richest men. Its Chairman of the board Lajos Tolnay, board member and co-owner Arpad Bakonyi and Bela Petrusz are all among the 30 richest people in the country, according to a 2010 list by the business daily Napi Gazdasag.

The net worth of Tolnay, the richest among them, is about 23 billion forints ($116.9 million).

(Compiled by Marton Dunai; Editing by Charles Dick)