VIENNA (Reuters) - Hungary's new law aimed at protecting strategic companies from takeover will not have any impact on banking or other sectors and should not keep investors away from the domestic market, OTP bank OTPB.BU Chief Financial Officer Laszlo Urban said on Tuesday.
The European Union has criticized the law which investors say was designed to protect oil company MOL MOLB.BU from being taken over by Austria's OMV (OMVV.VI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
"I don't know what will be the impact on whoever wants to invest in the energy sector, but the wider implication does not need to be there because it is clear it applies to particular sectors and I don't think it could have any impact on the banking sector or on us," Urban told the Reuters Central European Investment Summit.
He added he believed the EU has been softening its stance on special shareholder arrangements.
"It seems to me that the EU is showing a larger level of tolerance towards differences with the classical Anglo-Saxon philosophy where every shareholder should have equal rights," he said.
"Within that framework the 'Lex-MOL' is really not such a huge outlier that should alienate people from the Hungarian market at all."
Media have dubbed the law "Lex-MOL" because it was drafted after an offer by OMV for MOL, Hungary's biggest company by sales, in a deal which could value MOL at $20 billion.
In June, OTP signed a share lending agreement with MOL, as part of the efforts to ward off the OMV approach. OTP said last month its stake had dropped below 10 percent.
Hungary is not alone in legislation to protect what it sees as national champions and there have been similar moves in France, Spain and Germany. Continued...
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