Press: Omnipol, Hungarian financier keen to buy Czech airplane maker Aero Vodochody

Together with the Czech arms group Omnipol, a new Hungarian partner could soon acquire Aero Vodochody, the largest military airplane manufacturer in the Czech Republic, the business daily Hospodářské noviny reports.

Financier Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, a person close to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is entering the operation together with Omnipol, the newspaper said. Aero Vodochody’s current owner, the Czech-Slovak Penta group, declined to comment.

Aero Vodochody was established just months after the foundation of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918. It has produced over 11,000 aircraft and now provides deliveries and service support to customers in 60 countries.