HUF 500 billion: this is the estimated value of the assets managed within the rather opaque network — comprising companies, private equity funds, as well as asset management firms — organised around the Central Bank’s Pallas Athéné Domus Meriti Foundation (PADME). Within this substantial fortune, public funds amounted up to HUF 407 billion, of which a sum of 200 billion has been lost, according to the State Audit Office. As we reported in a previous article, the bulk of these assets was invested in two large foreign real estate companies. The losses stemmed from a significant drop in the market value of these shares, which are also difficult to sell right now.
