Hungary still plans to renegotiate Budapest airport contract with Hochtief - paper

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's government has not given up on plans to renegotiate terms of a contract for private companies to operate Budapest airport, but will wait until after an election in April to begin talks, a state secretary told business daily Napi Gazdasag. Germany's Hochtief Airport GmbH controls a 49.67 percent stake in the company operating the air hub, while four other foreign investors control the rest under a deal first signed in 2007. Hochtief lifted its stake in 2011. "We have not given up on a potential renegotiation of the contract, however, this will have to wait until the next government cycle," Sara Nemes, a state secretary at the National Development Ministry was quoted as saying in an interview published on Friday. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government aims to boost state influence in key sectors of the economy, such as in banking or energy. His ruling Fidesz party is comfortably ahead of its main opposition rivals based on the latest opinion polls. A previous Hungarian government sold a 75 percent stake in Budapest's international airport operator to British airports operator BAA in December 2005 for 464.5 billion forints ($2.09 billion). The airport has changed hands several times since. (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)