PM Orbán’s son-in-law is already one of Hungary’s richest men

tiborcz Orbán's son-in-law property scam
Photo: Facebook / Orbán Viktor

How does one become one of Hungary’s richest men? For a long time, István Tiborcz, Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law, resisted the allure of public funds. Or at least he did a great job proving that injections of central capital did not fuel his wealth. Now, this has changed. In Tiborcz’s latest deals, the state is a partner.

An extremely successful businessman?

As Válasz Online writes, PM Orbán’s daughter and son-in-law are no strangers to the world of business. However, Ráhel Orbán and István Tiborcz have tried their best to hide their ties with the Hungarian state. In the case of a businessman, there is little to no virtue in being identified as a top oligarch. While it is an obvious political risk for the current ruler, it could be as bad as even being classified as a criminal activity. Péter Magyar, the ex-husband of former Justice Minister Judit Varga wrote the following in a Facebook post about Tiborcz:

You’re a really talented man. At the age of 37, you have 100 billion, a plethora of hotels, a bank, fund managers, a lot of formerly valuable state property, Waberer’s, half the office market in Belgrade and office buildings in Budapest not yet built (already rented out to state companies). And that’s just what you already have to your name. What other companies are you taking over these days? In total, how many state loans or subsidies have you received to put your portfolio together?

Magyar also noted that Hungary is home to countless educated and talented people who work hard but still cannot achieve what Tiborcz has. He also suggests that the businessman’s success is not just a matter of luck.

Long way to the top?

Back in 2015, Tiborcz was playing safe, as he sold all his companies that absorbed (or could have absorbed) public money. Later, he tried to do business undercover, but in 2017, it became public that he was a shareholder of BDPST Plc real estate development company. He also became a shareholder of Appeninn Holding. In 2020, he said that he did not want to “own a company that is competing for state or local government grants”, thus he left Appeninn. While this sounds honest and dramatic, his next step was to increase his so-called private equity funds, which then became the mainstay of his empire.

These funds are primarily used for hiding the identity of owners. Thus, the public will not know where the tens of billions of forints of capital, preferential loans and non-refundable grants from the state went. In 2023, it was confirmed that Tiborcz is present in the economic sphere with nearly forty huge real estate projects and a host of other interests, such as financial markets, transport, reinforced concrete, solar parks, waste management, IT and beauty, thanks in part to generous public funds.

His latest deals

  • One of the latest deals includes the purchase of the Belgrade office building complex. The complex comprises 11 buildings across five business parks, covering a total floor area of 122,000 square metres, nearly 10 percent of Belgrade’s office space. In 2021, the properties were valued at EUR 267.6 million, but their value has likely increased significantly since then. In addition, he has around 10 historical buildings, office building complexes and other high-value properties in Hungary.
  • He also purchased 5,200 hectares of land – including forests and fields – as well as a timber processing plant and a hunting lodge in Somogy County, that used to belong to Carlo Benetton.
  • Many state companies will move into the office buildings of BudaPart, one of his real estate projects.
  • The group of companies around Kallos Cosmetics Ltd recently qualified for a EUR 15.9 million super soft loan from the state-owned Eximbank under the Baross Gábor Reindustrialization Investment Loan Plus. It is only natural that Kallos Cosmetics can be connected to Tiborcz.
  • Last year, the Hungarian government initiated a large-scale real estate project in Soroksár and Gyál, overseen by Főnix Private Equity Fund. Tiborcz’s team confirmed no battery or chemical facilities, but integration into Waberer’s logistics network is possible. Waberer is building a new warehouse in Debrecen, supported by HUF 6.1 billion (EUR 4.1 million) from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

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