The Hungarian government will use all the means at its disposal to protect the independence of MOL in the wake of the recent "hostile takeover" attempt by OMV, which is controlled by the Austrian government, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said on a press conference yesterday. The prime minister added that he has been in regular talks with the management of MOL. Our view: We believe comment of Gyurcsany is primarily a message for voters in Hungary that the government is aware of defending national champions. Although the Hungarian government does not have direct stake in MOL, in our view it would be unwise from the Austrian company to go against them. (Please note that government controls the competition office who will rule on which assets OMV should sell if it manages to acquire MOL). We believe that news can lower takeover speculation further.