Right-wing media personality Philip Rákay’s empire continues to expand, now in Rácalmás, Fejér County, about 60 km south of Budapest. According to the Opten database, which lists company information, the former television presenter and businessman who is closely tied to the government’s National Cooperation System (“NER”) founded a new company called Rácalmás Greendustry Projekt Zrt. one month ago. Other than having its seat in Budapest, not many details are revealed among the real estate trading company’s data, making it impossible to infer what its plans are in Rácalmás. However, in a tight-lipped response Mr. Rákay said that the company is the owner of a 42-hectare industrial area, where improvements will be carried out with the intention of selling it.
Based on that information, 24.hu was able to identify the area in question, which is located right next to the headquarters of the Hankook Tire Company’s facility in Hungary, located on the border of Rácalmás and Dunaújváros.
Rákay’s company, Norton Consulting Zrt., purchased the land, which comprises an area almost half the size of Budapest’s Margaret Island, from OTP Bank’s Real Estate Management Fund (Balansz Zartkörű Níltvégű Intézményi Realtlanfejőlő Alap), and from there it was transferred to his newly founded company. The sale took place in July, when Rákay was still filming his over HUF 6 bn epic “Now or Never,” a feature film about Sándor Petőfi and his youth activist contemporaries. Rákay is one of the production’s screenwriters and producers.
It is not yet clear what fate awaits the Rácalmás property, and for now the locals there have no idea, for example, whether Hankook is planning an expansion in the area.
Restaurant in Balaton Highlands sold for HUF 1.65 bn
Aside from the new investment in Fejér county, meanwhile Rákay’s company is pursuing plans to part ways with the Tarányi Press House, a restaurant perched on a hill. As 444.hu has also reported, the asking price for the restaurant is EUR 4 million, which is approximately HUF 1.65 bn. In response to the scrutiny, Rákay stated the sale is being made for personal reasons.The Balaton Highlands’ emblematic building was put on the market just a couple of years after its renovation. The peasant Baroque structure had been sitting in ruins for years, and burned down in 1998 and 2014. In 2015, businessman Miklós Szoják bought it, and in May 2016, he transferred it to his then-established company called Tarányi Nonprofit Kft. Rákay’s Norton Consulting Zrt. bought a stake in that in October 2019.
Tarányi Kft. first announced a public procurement procedure for the renovation of the estate at the end of 2018, but it ended unsuccessfully, even though two applicants had applied. Since then, it has never been revealed why a public procurement procedure had to be announced, or whether state support was received that mandated it. The Press House was reborn in summer 2020, so much so that Minister of Justice, Judit Varga, praised the wines and top gastronomy in August on social media.
The renovation of the building brought about a significant transformation in its nearby environment, too. A grassy area between it and the so-called Polish Chapel has been closed to the public, several trees and bushes were cut down, and the parking lot on the facility’s lower terrace is strictly reserved for guests of the estate. While the manor has operated as a restaurant in recent years, according to the real estate ad it can easily be converted back into a family mansion or even a company guest house. The building is fully furnished, equipped with professional, “double” kitchen technology, an oven, furniture and tableware. As written in the ad:
The mansion sits on 1 hectare of land, part of which is landscaped, and the entire property has a super, breathtaking panorama of Lake Balaton, Badacsony, Szigliget Castle, and the surrounding vineyards and hills.
24.hu has previously devoted several articles to the Hungarian Tourism Agency’s unique support scheme, and according to a previous document obtained by our organization, in 2019, Tarányi Nonprofit Kft. applied for HUF 499 million in support “for the development of a visitor, event center and tourist rest area,” but it did not receive it. However, according to data published in 2020, the company received HUF 8 million from this source.
According to real estate website ingatlan.com, the Tarányi Press House is now the second most expensive estate in the lake Balaton area.
Ranolder mansion from PM’s son-in-law
From Hegymagas, you only have to drive a few kilometers to Badacsonytomaj, where another iconic building, the Ranolder villa, is located. This has also been among Philip Rákay’s interests since April 2020. 24.hu was the first to report that his company had bought the company that became the owner of the Ranolder mansion in February 2020. In the summer of 2017, the property, which is in need of major renovation, belonged to the company of István Tiborcz, son-in-law of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. At that time, BDPST Zrt. bought the Ranolder mansion and its associated property as a bank claim. Although the municipality of Badacsonytomaj had the right of first refusal, the mayor of the settlement said that it did not have a HUF 100 million to pay the purchase price nor any additional money for the renovation.
In the end, István Tiborcz changed his mind and sold the building in August 2018. The company that purchased the property transferred the mansion to the newly established Ranolder Villa 1864 Kft. at a value of HUF 135 million. That company was bought by Norton Consulting Zrt., which is owned exclusively by Philip Rákay. According to 24.hu’s information, the renovation of the villa had not even begun after it entered into Rákay’s business interests.
Incidentally, in the neighborhood of the villa is the winemaking estate of Kristóf Szatmáry, a Fidesz member of parliament and formerly the ministerial commissioner responsible for road paving. His company received HUF 127.6 million in EU funding from the government to develop a winemaking facility and boarding house on its property.
Killer deal in Budapest’s 12th district
Due to the drastic rise in real estate prices, Philip Rákay’s company likely made a killing in by completing a real estate sale with the capital municipality, which was still led by former Budapest mayor István Tarlós at the time: the purchase of a 12th district villa in the immediate vicinity of the Széchenyi monument.
The 226-square-meter villa on Rege Street is situated on a plot of almost 2,400 square meters. The property was purchased for HUF 198 million by the former TV presenter’s business concern. According to the valuation available up to now, the price established at the time was realistic, but at the same time, similar-sized-but-empty plots of land on Széchenyi Hill are being sold for between HUF 220 and 600 million.
In response to our inquiry, the Budapest municipality wrote that the value of the property designated for sale was determined by an appraiser in 2018, and based on that, it was announced for sale by the Budapest Főváros Vagyonkezelő Központ Zrt. Quoting their statement:
The property was put up for tender twice in a public procedure, with no application having been received for the first time (despite applicants having purchased tender materials); the second time an application was received. Then the sale took place.
In regards to an inquiry on that purchase, we contacted Philip Rákay, who informed us,
In 2017, I noticed that the advertised property had gone unsold for months on the ingtalan.com website, information accessible to anyone.The ad designated the intention to sell the property by tender. My company took steps at the official, open call for tenders, offered the advertised price, and then won.
He added that everything had happened exactly as it does according to the current practice of BFVK Zrt., which is owned by the Budapest municipality. In an unrelated incident, when it came to light that the city’s asset manager, Balázs Barts J., who signed the contract with Rákay, had discussed preparation for the alleged sale of City Hall in a leaked recording, it gave Fidesz cause to attack mayor Gergely Karácsony’s city administration.
From the 8th district to Buda’s Castle district
Earlier, 24.hu reported on how, through an apartment exchange arrangement, Philip Rákay and his wife had acquired a 60-square-meter municipal property in a designated heritage building in the Castle District on Bécsi kapu square that had previously been renovated by the district municipality for HUF 70 million. As it became clear from contracts obtained from the municipality, in exchange the Rákays traded a 24-square-meter, ground-floor, one-room apartment on Kálvária square in the 8th district.
