- Lakeside villas to replace former MÁV holiday resort in Zánka – Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy’s shadow looms in the background
- The former MÁV (Hungarian state railways) holiday resort might be replaced by newly built villas in the small town of Zánka, on the shores of Lake Balaton. The property, sold by the state in 2022, is now under the ownership of two private equity funds that seem to be linked to Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy’s circles. As of now, the municipality seems eager to fulfil the needs of the investors.
- ‘Classic Balaton villas’ may be built on the lakeside area of the former MÁV holiday resort in Zánka, which was sold by the state in 2022.
- Last summer, the 16,000 square meter property came under the ownership of two private equity funds with unclear ownership.
- The minority owner’s background seems to be linked to the circles of Hungary’s Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy’s brother.
- The majority owner, on the other hand, emerged from the merger of urban capital funds that were launched by the MFB (Hungarian Development Bank) with tens of billions of forints. The MFB Group is supervised by Minister Márton Nagy.
- At the investor’s request, the municipality of Zánka reclassified the area, reducing the minimum amount of mandatory green space, while also being generous regarding the proportion of the area that may be built upon.
Villas along Lake Balaton’s shore could be built on thousands of square metres, replacing the former MÁV holiday resort in Zánka, 24.hu was informed.
The lakeside property functioned as the state railway company’s holiday resort from the 1970s until 2015. Following its closure, the state took over the ownership of the area. Hungarian State Asset Management (MNV) Inc. sold the over 16,000 square meter plot near the Zánka-Köveskál railway station and the town’s beach via auction in 2022 for 574 million forints. The buyer was a recently registered company, Goro Maxi Ltd. Just up until a few months ago, the executive owner of the firm was Csaba Weinhardt, a sailing athlete with one European and two world championships under his belt.
In recent years, private equity funds, providing anonymity a well as low taxes, have become popular among the country’s wealthiest, in a manner similar to offshore companies. Although previously the ultimate owners of these funds were briefly traceable in the National Tax and Customs Administration’s (NAV) actual ownership database, this information was later removed from the system. This occurred after online watchdog journalist portal Direkt36 discovered the registry and disclosed the ownership structures of numerous private equity funds. However, revealing traces can be discovered even in this secretive business world, still allowing for deductions about actual ownership relationships.
In the case of Goro Maxi Ltd., seemingly emerging out of nowhere and later coming under the ownership of two private equity funds, interesting connections can be identified. Legal tasks concerning the registration of the company were entrusted by Weinhardt to attorney Judit Pete, whom we previously reported to have taken over the law firm of Szilárd Nagy, Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy’s brother – the law firm performs its duties for hundreds of millions in public funds. This occurred right after Márton Nagy had taken office and delegated Judit Pete into the Public Procurement Council as one of his first actions as minister.
Around the same time the former MÁV holiday resort was purchased in Zánka, Goro Maxi Ltd. took out a loan. The firm requested 50 million forints from credit company Alfa Credit Plc., whose supervisory board was chaired by Márton Nagy when the eventual agreement took place. At the time, Nagy functioned as the chief economic advisor to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
An interesting subplot is that the chairman of Alfa’s board, as well as its co-owner, Adorján Marton, had appeared in the criminal trials of former judicial enforcement president György Schadl and former Secretary of State for Justice Pál Völner. Marton Adorján’s name had appeared several times in the investigative documents of the corruption case, and Schadl personally requested his hearing in court. We reported earlier that Marton played a role in the registration process of a liquidation company owned by Schadl’s mother.
Big brothers and private equity funds
It was after such precedents that the ownership of the MÁV holiday resort in Zánka changed hands in late June 2023. Among the two mentioned private equity funds, the minority owner is Trustify I. Private Equity Fund, which, according to Opten’s company database, was established just four days prior to it becoming one of Goro Maxi Ltd.’s owners. The fund is represented and managed by Trustify Investment Fund Manager Plc., operating from the same address. Regarding this latter firm, the threads lead towards the circles of Márton Nagy’s brother – the company’s board of directors is chaired by Péter Fenyvesi, a former business partner of Szilárd Nagy.
Until last year, Fenyvesi was the managing director of Vincent Properties Ltd., the company owning the District II villa that serves as Szilárd Nagy’s address. Additionally, Fenyvesi was a member of the board of directors of Alfa Credit Ltd. until mid-October 2022, the same time the financial firm provided a loan to Goro Maxi Ltd., the Zánka resort’s purchaser. Therefore, even before his ministerial appointment, Márton Nagy was associated with Fenyvesi as an officer in the financial enterprise.
The case of the fund with majority ownership is even more interesting. Goro Maxi Ltd. – and along with it, the lakeside property – is owned in 90 per cent by GloCap I. Economic Development Private Equity Fund, established in last year’s April. The company was created through the merger of urban capital funds initiated by MFB Group, supervised by Minister Márton Nagy. The merged funds were:
• Székesfehérvár Urban Capital Fund, launched with a budget of 5 billion forints,
• Kaposvár Urban Capital Fund, with a budget of 3 billion forints,
• Veszprém Urban Capital Fund, initiated with a budget of 3 billion forints,
• Nyíregyháza Urban Capital Fund, established with a budget of 5 billion forints,
• Pécs Urban Capital Fund, with a budget of 3 billion forints,
• Debrecen Urban Capital Fund, with a substantial budget of 10 billion forints,
• and the Rural Development Capital Fund, established last year with an unspecified budget.
(Székesfehérvár, Kaposvár, Veszprém, Nyíregyháza, Pécs and Debrecen are all county seats in Hungary.)
What this means is that, excluding the Rural Development Capital Fund, the urban capital funds initiated by the MFB Group under the supervision of Minister Márton Nagy, with a total budget of 29 billion forints of public money, were merged into a private equity fund the true owner of which is not even known.
As these urban capital funds – now merged into the private equity fund – were created by MFB Invest Ltd., we reached out to the state-owned company to inquire about the details of the Zánka investment. MFB Invest was rather short-spoken in its response. We asked the company how they are planning to utilise the former MÁV holiday resort area, and we also inquired about the amount of their investment. The company acknowledged being a shareholder through investment certificates in GloCap I. Economic Development Private Equity Fund – however, the firm stated that answering our questions is not within their jurisdiction, as management decisions are entrusted to their partner fund manager, Global Capital Venture Capital Fund Management Ltd.
The latter company is led by Sándor Juhász, who has held positions in several companies previously associated with Lőrinc Mészáros, the billionaire from Felcsút. Csaba Petti is also a board member in the company. The businessman, formerly registered at a Bissau-Guinea address, has been reported by Válasz Online to have several business ties to Fidesz MP Erik Bánki’s Hungast public catering company. Petti also owns Innova-X Investment Fund Manager Ltd., managing the Innova-1 Automotive Private Equity Fund, which is supported by a commitment of 10 billion forints from state-owned Eximbank. Furthermore, the board includes László Tamási, the leader of several companies in the interests of István Garancsi, known as a close friend to Prime Minister Orbán.
As GloCap I. Economic Development Private Equity Fund was created through the merger of urban capital funds initiated with nearly 30 billion forints of public wealth, we submitted a public information request to both the fund manager and MFB Group, inquiring about the details. So far, we have received no response.
Demolitions already underway in Zánka
Demolition efforts have already taken place on Zánka’s former MÁV Balaton holiday resort area, now designated as a construction site. This change is also indicated by a sign on the fence. During our visit, it was evident that the area had undergone a thorough transformation, as the former buildings had been completely demolished. This was also confirmed by Goro Maxi MD Csaba Weinhardt, who stated that, for now, the demolition focused on out-dated buildings in poor condition, unfit for recreation or habitation.
He stated that as per the owner’s intention,
The municipality also confirmed this information. Tamás Balázs Kiss, Zánka’s deputy notary stated that he was unable to transfer the plans to our newspaper, as the municipality had not yet received any, either.
We furthermore attempted obtain any potential plans from the Veszprém County Government Office, who informed our newspaper that no application for a building permit has been received for the mentioned case, and there is no on-going approval process.
In any case, the municipality has already modified the local building regulations for which the investor had agreed to pay a compensation of 50 million forints. (This is precisely the amount Goro Maxi Ltd. borrowed from Alfa Credit Plc.) While the specific plans are not known, a rough idea of the investor’s intentions is outlined in a document on the municipality website. According to the information therein, the owner plans to create buildings “in the style typical of classic Balaton villas” and vows to retain the park-like nature of the area, as well as to protect the lakeshore’s reeds.
At the same time, the owner requested a modification of legal construction parameters from the municipality. Due to the investment, the municipality also made changes to the settlement’s official townscape image guidebook, and created a new “villa-style holiday resort area”, “differing slightly from the formerly defined areas with holiday houses along the shores of Lake Balaton.” Ultimately, the municipality reclassified the area by reducing the minimum proportion of green space from 60% to 55%. As for the maximum ratio of the area to be constructed upon, the ratio was changed from 10% to “10/K”, meaning that the “historically established” building density is not to be modified. This allows for “the construction of new buildings in case old ones are demolished, in a scale matching the former buildings”. So basically, the area historically had a building density above the legally defined maximum of 10% on the property, and the new legislation is to uphold this concession.
This is further confirmed by that during a public forum concerning the investment, Zánka mayor Miklós Filep mentioned this summer that the actual current building density of the MÁV holiday resort is 17%. It is possible that the new owner may build even more extensively, as the project’s designer, Márton Kéthelyi stated at the forum that the legalised construction ratio for the former MÁV holiday resort area is 10%, but the then-existing buildings already surpassed this. He mentioned that the modification would aim for a 20% ratio.
