Someone with close ties to the Hungarian government purchased a luxury villa in Varese, Italy

According to a report published by the Italian newspaper Domani, a party close to the Hungarian government has purchased a luxury villa in Varese, near the Italian-Swiss border, for €4.3 million (approximately HUF 1.7 billion). The exact identity of the owner is unknown due to the involvement of a private equity fund, but the individuals involved in the transaction are known to be associated with Orbán's elusive strategist, Árpád Habony and Minister of Defense, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky.

The Italian article was first reviewed in Hungary by 444.hu. The villa, which is over 1,000 square meters, features a huge garden, a swimming pool, a gym, an indoor elevator, and a 256-square-meter garage. It overlooks Lake Varese and is located at the foot of the Alps. According to the article, the buyer paid the €4.3 million price without a mortgage. The newspaper further points out that the buyer was originally a company called Praedium Property Kft., but the final buyer ended up being Influentia Kft. Praedium is owned by the private equity fund Triplehill I., while Influentia is owned by the private equity fund Progressus, with all four entities registered at the same Budapest address: Dorottya utca 6.

The villa in Varese was previously owned by fashion designer Margherita Maccapani Missoni, heir to the Missoni fashion brand founded by her grandparents, and her then-husband, entrepreneur and race car driver Eugenio Amos, who sold the property. Several fashion magazines, including Harper's Bazaar and Vogue have previously published photos of the Missoni family home.

On December 28, 2023, the buyer was Praedium Property Kft., a company founded on November 20, 2023, which was required to pay 10 percent of the purchase price under the initial contract. According to the Italian newspaper, the amount was transferred from an account at Gránit Bank. The final agreement was signed on July 17, 2024, seven months after the preliminary agreement, but by then, the final buyer had changed to Influentia Kft., as Praedium had transferred the rights to the preliminary contract and the previously made advance payment to Influentia.

The managers of the two purchasing companies are well known in Hungary. Renáta Tiszolczi, who acted on behalf of Praedium, used to work for the Aegon Group, where she once worked alongside Péter Heim, who was previously connected to Árpád Habony's and Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky's investments in Croatia. According to her former colleagues, after Tiszolczi left Aegon, she worked for Árpád Habony and Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky's companies. Her former coworkers described her as a particularly intelligent and risk-averse financial expert, but they said they have not heard much about her in recent years.

András Balogh, who represented Influentia, has also been a well-known leader in the Hungarian corporate sector for about three decades. The highly educated economist worked as a consultant for Big Four firms before becoming a senior executive at Magyar Telekom, but was forced to leave along with former chairman and CEO Elek Straub when the management of the Hungarian telecommunications company listed on the New York Stock Exchange collapsed due to a series of deals in Montenegro and North Macedonia. Balogh later became the head of Geosol, a waste management company operating alongside the Mátra Power Plant, but more recently he has appeared in dealings involving István Garancsi, Árpád Habony, and Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, who all have close ties to the government. One such example was his involevement with the Hungarian railway company Magyar Vagon. He did most of his consulting work for the gambling company "Las Vegas" jointly owned by István Garancsi and Árpád Habony, but the company register doesn't list him in the company's leadership; instead Garancsi and Habony's trusted people can be seen there.

The Italian paper was clearly surprised by the Hungarian private equity fund system, i.e., the fact that while the EU has been working for years to ensure that the actual owners of companies are known, it is easy to hide behind private equity funds in Hungary. And although the Italian newspaper refers to the property as Orbán's villa, it is likely that the ultimate beneficiary of the private equity fund is not the prime minister, but rather someone from Árpád Habony's circle.

We contacted Influentia Kft. about the Italian villa, but they said they would not comment on Italian press reports.