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Central Europe
August 24, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
Hungarian PM’s son-in- law takes huge chunk in BSE-listed company
bne IntelliNews
A company owned by PM Viktor Orban’s son-in-law, Istvan Tiborcz has gained a 20% stake of BSE-listed property holding group Appeninn, which is owned by Orban's friend, and proxy, Lorinc Meszaros in a deal estimated to be worth HUF6bn (€1.85mn), it was announced on August 23.
Opposition media highlighted the transaction as a milestone as it marked the first open busi- ness transaction between the Orban and the Meszaros family.
For years it seemed that the elite close to
the ruling Fidesz party and the business
circles around Viktor Orban tried to keep their enrichment schemes secret, opposition site 444. hu website notes. But that may have changed after a third supermajority solidified Fidesz's grip on power; cronies around the ruling party make no secret of their wealth accumulation anymore.
Meszaros is commonly referred to as the proxy of Orban. He became Hungary’s second richest man after OTP chief Sandor Csanyi with an estimated wealth of HUF280bn. Unlike Csanyi, the former gas fitter gained his wealth solely from winning lucrative state contracts.
His business empire includes companies across all sectors, ranging from tourism to banking, industry, agriculture, retail, media, energy and he has recently launched a sportswear brand by which he hopes to dethrone big multinationals like Adidas and Nike.
PM Viktor Orban toasts with palinka with his son-in-law Istvan Tiborcz.
The former Felcsut mayor is also the founder and president of the football academy in the village, set up by the prime minister, which received the highest amount of state sponsorship of all division one clubs.
The rise of Istvan Tiborcz to the elite and con- spicuous accumulation of wealth since he mar- ried Orban's eldest daughter Rahel has been spectacular but had a few taints. The EU's anti- corruption agency OLAF suspects an organised criminal activity in EU-funded public procurement projects involving Elios, the lighting company once co-owned by Istvan Tiborcz.
In a two-year investigation, the OLAF inspected 35 public lighting projects won by the company between 2011 and 2015 in public tenders involving EU funds totalling €40mn.
Tiborcz has quit the company and since turned to real estate, buying properties across the country with a special focus to the resort area Lake Bala- ton and castles, using state-loans and subsidies.
BDPST buys 9.7mn shares
On Thursday it was announced that the private eq- uity fund of Konzum PE, owned by Meszaros sold its entire stake in Appeninn, 9,755,567 shares as part of an OTC transaction to BDPST, the company owned by PM Orbán’s son-in-law.
Konzum and property fund manager Konzum II still hold a combined 33% in Appeninn, which laid out an ambitious growth plan recently. It projected