Opus buys 49.57% stake in Hungary's largest gas distributor

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's Opus Global has signed a deal with Swiss-based MET Group to acquire 49.57% of Hungarian natural gas distributor Tigaz, the two companies said on Friday,

The acquisition expands the business portfolio of Opus Global, whose filings show Lorinc Meszaros, an associate of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, holds a 24.63% stake.

Opus shares jumped 5.2% to 263 forints at 0828 GMT.

Opus has a rapidly growing business portfolio spanning hotels, agriculture, industrials, media and energy.

The company had total revenues of 162 billion forints ($529 million) in the first three quarters of last year, down from 214 billion in the same period of 2019.

MET Group, an energy company doing business in gas and power markets, said in a statement that it decided to sell a stake in Tigaz as it invests in solar and wind power plants.

The companies did not disclose the price for the stake.

"The energy company is dedicated to build a significant 500+ MW renewables portfolio by 2023, consisting of solar and wind projects in the CEE region," MET said in its statement.

It also announced that it had bought a solar plant from Opus Global in the town of Buzsak in Hungary.

"This is a greenfield solar power plant project ...expected to produce 83.7 GWh electricity annually, " MET added.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Alexander Smith)