In the first round, the Józsefhegyi Street property in District II was sold for one and a half billion HUF, which was eventually taken by Antal Rogán‘s circle in the second-round auction for 893.5 million – as reported by 24.hu. The opportunity to purchase the Rózsadomb property arose for Dunai Fedélzet Vagyonkezelő Plc. because the first-round winner, Csatárka 34. Ingatlanfejlesztő Ltd., eventually withdrew its intention to sign the contract, thus forfeiting the previously paid 71.85 million HUF in earnest money.
“We tried to sell the property back in 2021. In the post-Covid period, we needed revenue, and our budget dictated we make this step.
In the first round, we established the starting price based on a property appraisal, followed by the auction and open competitive negotiations.
The building had tenants, and they were entitled to the opportunity for discounted purchase. They approached us to inquire whether they could buy the property with a 70-80% discount, but the municipality did not support this because in such cases, there is a chance that the property may ultimately end up in the hands of investors at a reduced price. It is better for everyone if it is us who redeem the lease rights rather than anyone else,” stated Gergely Őrsi, the Mayor of District II, to 24.hu.
The municipality eventually put the uniquely endowed property up for auction at a starting price of 718.5 million Hungarian Forints. The old villa building is in very poor condition, but due to the 3,504 square meters of land with a panoramic view of the Danube and the city, it is still one of the most valuable properties in the capital. Independent Member of Parliament Ákos Hadházy reported in early August that the property was ultimately acquired by the circle led by Antal Rogán, who heads the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office, but the details of the auction had not been widely known until now.
In the first round, eight participants applied for the public competition and placed the 71.85 million HUF deposit. In the auction held on November 15, 2021, Csatárka 34. Ingatlanfejlesztő Ltd. emerged as the winner with an offer of 1501 million HUF, more than double the starting price. According to the auction’s conditions, the winner would have seven days to pay the purchase price, in case a loan had not been necessary. If the purchase price was to be paid with a loan, at least twenty percent of the offered amount had to be transferred within thirty days (including the previously mentioned application fee). In other words, the winning company would have had to pay 230 million Hungarian Forints and sign the sales contract by December 15 at the latest.
As the reason for the withdrawal, the first round’s winning bidder cited the inability to secure a loan. “We tried to convince them to find a solution to the situation so they wouldn’t lose the money they had already paid, but they ultimately backed out of their winning bid. We were already waiting for the company’s executives to sign the contract,” recalled Gergely Őrsi. He added that the situation was surprising because when someone participates in a competition with such a large sum, they usually have a pre-existing loan commitment or access to the necessary funds.
The withdrawing company, Csatárka 34 Kft., is a project company established in March 2021, barely six months before the competitive negotiations took place. The company’s balance sheet shows no indication of being able to secure one and a half billion Hungarian Forints for the Rózsadomb property. However, the sum is chickenfeed for the company’s Austrian owner, Süba Holding, considering its annual turnover exceeds 2.5 billion euros (approximately 1,000 billion Hungarian Forints).
We sent written questions to Rudolf Riedl, the CEO of Csatárka 34, who began his response by stating that they currently have ongoing developments in Austria, Germany, and Hungary, including Budapest. The company’s leaderhsip learned about the Rózsadomb property shortly before the public bidding. A housing concept was quickly developed for the location, but they were ultimately unable to realize their plans.
We generally purchase properties with 50% equity and 50% bank financing. We assumed that we would receive a financing proposal within a reasonable time frame after the bidding round. Unfortunately, this did not happen, which ultimately led us to withdraw from the purchase. In the case of another project, it took us more than six months to finalize the financing agreement with the banks in the actual business environment
– Riedl wrote.
As the first auction ended up invalid, the municipality re-auctioned the property with unchanged conditions a few months later. This time, there was much less competition, with only three participants in the auction. Dunai Fedélzet Vagyonkezelő Plc. emerged as the winner with an offer of 893.5 million HUF, more than 600 million less than the previous winning bid. Dunai Fedélzet did not participate in the first-round auction.
The name of the company might be familiar as it was Dunai Fedélzet Plc. that had purchased the Serényi Castle in Dédestapolcsány, the village of Antal Rogán’s third wife, Barbara Rogán. This happened in May 2021, shortly after a scandal resulting in Barbara Rogán’s family withdrawing from a land deal of over 1,000 hectares worth 1.6 billion Hungarian Forints in the area, due to the county government office not approving the acquisition.
Dunai Fedélzet Vagyonkezelő Plc. currently has three owners:
- Lawyer Ádám Fintha-Nagy, whose Fundus Vagyonkezelő Plc. acquired several properties in Budapest’s central District V without a competitive bidding process during Rogán’s tenure as mayor between 2008 and 2013.
- Crown Holding Ltd., a company belonging to Transylvanian businessman Sándor Mudura. Mudura had also acquired properties in central Budapest under advantageous conditions.
- Verecke 120 Zrt., owned by Lefkovics György’s three daughters. In recent years, Lefkovics has become an extremely influential figure in the Hungarian hospitality industry. As Figyelő reported years ago, there were several occasions where his venues’ appeals, for example for the opening of terrace spaces, were evaluated personally by then-mayor Rogán.
The CEO of Dunai Fedélzet, a company originally founded for engagement in property leasing and accommodation services, is Sándor Moór, who, according to the company’s financial reports, was the sole owner of the company during the time of the Rózsadomb property auction. However, during the 2021 castle purchase, Moór told Magyar Narancs that the ultimate owner of the company is Ádám Fintha-Nagy.
During the time of the first auction (months earlier), we had not yet decided to purchase the property; we had other business objectives
– replied Fintha-Nagy to 24.hu. The company covered the purchase price from a combination of equity and bank financing, but the ultimate fate of the Rózsadomb property is yet undetermined. “The development purpose of the property is not yet final, and the future development plan will also determine the fate of the otherwise run-down villa building,” wrote Ádám Fintha-Nagy. The original building regulations permit a 23-unit apartment building; however, the municipality had already announced during the auction that the maximum scale of permitted projects would be reduced.
The municipality has no information regarding the changes planned on the property, but during the tender, the municipality drastically reduced the extent the property could be subjected to construction projects, thereby significantly reducing the environmental impact – this was confirmed by Gergely Őrsi in his response to 24.hu.
We also asked the opposition-aligned mayor if he finds it strange that the property eventually ended up in the hands of Antal Rogán’s circle after such a peculiar detour. Őrsi responded that he indeed considers it strange, but he believes that this is as transparent as it gets when selling municipal property. As for the reported connections of the ownership structure, he has not been aware thereof up until now.
The response from the Mayor of District II also revealed that the redemption of the lease rights of the two tenants cost the municipality 90 million Hungarian Forints.
