Publishing Co. Sold To PM’s Former Business Partner

The government’s latest privatization move could end up in a libel suit after Fidesz vice-president Zoltán Pokorni said National Textbook Publishing Rt. was sold well below its value to Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány’s former business partner.

After 11 contenders showed interest for National Textbook Publishing Rt., which holds close to 50% of the Hungarian textbook market, the State Privatization and Holding Rt. (ÁPV) selected Láng Publishing and Holding Rt. as winner. Láng was selected against other bidders, some of which offered more than Láng did. Opposition party MPs voiced their suspicion that the ÁPV was biased and favored Láng, which in 2002 bought Perfect Rt. from current Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány.

Gyurcsány said he will sue Pokorni, who accused him. Opposition Fidesz has been against privatizing National Textbook Publishing for a long time. The company’s chairman, Gyula Szvák, resigned last year when his arguments against privatization were neglected by the ÁPV. Szvák wanted to turn National Textbook Publishing into a center of professional network overseen by the Education Ministry.

While National Textbook Publishing made HUF 530 million pre-tax profit on HUF 5.8 billion in consolidated revenues last year, Láng – which offered HUF 3.21 billion for 70% minus one share – made HUF 178 million pre-tax profit on HUF 554 million in revenues. However, companies under the Láng umbrella – including Szikra Newspaper Printing Rt., Athenaeum Printing Rt. and Geomedia Publishing Rt. – made close to HUF 1 billion profit on HUF 18.9 billion.