The privatization of Hungarian airline Malev could be completed before the end of February, Finance Minister Janos Veres said on Wednesday.

State privatization company APV is now focusing on negotiations of the sale of 99.95 percent of Malev with a sole prospective buyer AirBridge, which is a Hungarian company backed by Russia's fourth-largest airline KrasAir, Veres said.

The government is ready to back a plan made by APV's board of directors to transfer a certain amount of Malev assets to a state asset management company before the sale, Veres added.

Under this plan, after its privatization, Malev would have to pay for the use of these assets and the fees would gradually pay off Malev's state-backed debts, Veres said.

The Hungarian government has made repeated efforts to sell troubled Malev, which has state-guaranteed debts of some 30 billion forints (152 million U.S. dollars).