Spain’s government derails Talgo takeover

Spanish Cabinet ministers vetoed a Hungarian consortium’s hopes of taking over Talgo.

The €619 million offer from Ganz-Mavag was “appealing to shareholders”, the train manufacturer said, but the government mistrusted the deal from the outset as the consortium has links to Hungary’s president Victor Orban and there were suspicions that Russian money was involved.

Cabinet ministers analysed documents from the Foreign Investment Committee (Jinvex) which included reports from the National Intelligence Service and the National Security Council.

They concluded that the operation would entail “risks to national security and public order” and announced on August 27 that the transaction would not go through.

Following the Cabinet meeting, government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria declined to give details on the grounds that Talgo was a stock exchange-listed company.

Meanwhile, Talgo shares fell by 10 per cent and Ganz-Mavag and Talgo’s minority shareholders announced that they were considering an appeal against the government decision.