Lőrinc Mészáros

Lőrinc Mészáros (born February 24, 1966)[1] is a Hungarian gas-fitter, politician and businessman, “strohmann” of Orbán Viktor who served as Mayor of Felcsút between 2011 and 2018.[4][5][6] With an estimated wealth of 407.7 billion forint ($1.3 billion) as of 2019, he is according to Forbes, the richest person in Hungary.[2][3]

The native form of this personal name is Mészáros Lőrinc. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
Lőrinc Mészáros
Mayor of Felcsút
In office
19 June 2011 – 16 September 2018
Preceded byGyörgy Varga (independent)
Succeeded byLászló István Mészáros (Fidesz-KDNP)
Personal details
Born (1966-02-24) 24 February 1966[1]
Székesfehérvár, Hungary[1]
CitizenshipHungarian[1]
Political partyFidesz (2010-)
Net worthUS$1.3 billion[2][3]

His personality generates regular social discourse, because from a gas-fitter close to bankruptcy, Mészáros became the richest man of Hungary in a matter of years - what several analysts explain with him having close ties to high ranking members of the Fidesz party.[7][8][9][10] After the 2010 change of government his wealth annually doubled, and he became the mayor of the village, where his childhood friend - who won several elections since 2010[11] and is currently the Prime Minister - Viktor Orbán grew up. This has led to several media outlets calling him Viktor Orbán's strawperson on a regular basis.[12][13][14][15] The significance of this relationship is summarized by Mészáros in 2017: "My fortune is thanks to three factors: God, luck and Viktor Orban.".[16]

Early Business

Mészáros started his career as a gas-fitter in the early nineties. The company started to develop and got more and more important jobs in nearby settlements, working in residential parks and larger buildings. In the middle of the 2000s, however, the company received fewer orders and lost most of its market share. By 2007 the company was making loss with minimal orders.

Since 2010 he rapidly accumulated his wealth.[17] By 2013 he became the 88th richest Hungarian was with HUF 6.9 billion assets, rising to 23.8 billion in 2016, and to 120 billion by 2017, making him the 5th wealthiest Hungarian. According to a report by RTL Klub, in 2016 Mészáros companies, in consortium, had a total public procurement revenue of HUF 225 billion.[18]

In Politics

Mészáros won the local elections in Felcsút in 2011 representing the governing Fidesz - KDNP. After his election, Felcsút seen a fast development, with several large state and EU funded projects (football stadium, touristic light railway, artificial lake) being realized.[19] Mészáros also became president of the Felcsút New Generation Training Foundation, which was founded earlier by Viktor Orbán.

The fortunes of Mészáros and its family companies continued to grow in 2018, winning public procurements worth of HUF 259 billion, 93% of which came from the European Union.[20] In April 2018, Mészáros retired as the Mayor of Felcsút "to solely concentrate on his economic interests".[21]

Focusing on Business again

By May 2018, his and his wife's Konzum Private Equity Fund had traded at $280–300 billion, making Mészáros the second richest man in the country. By March 2019 he became the 2057th wealthiest man on the planet according to Forbes.[22]

In the years between 2010-2019 among others he acquired, several hotels, the second largest power plant of Hungary (Mátra Power Plant, providing about 15% of the country's electricity). He acquired several radio stations, newspaper publishers, and the nationwide television channel “Echo”. These became part of his holding company, Opimus (later Opus Global Nyrt.), which grew into Hungary's biggest media empire.[23]

In 2017, together with his longtime business partner László Szíjj, they acquired 81.5% of the Hungarian Foreign Trade Bank (MKB), the fourth-biggest commercial bank in Hungary.

His construction companies won bids in the two largest (state funded) infrastructure projects of the last five decades: the Paks-2 Nuclear Power Plant construction and the Budapest-Belgrade railway.[24][25][26][27]

Atlatszo.hu, an opposition news site, compiled a list of all of his companies.[28]

Year Wealth (billion HUF) Notable events
2013 6.9
2014 7.7
2015 8.4 The "G-day": Viktor Orbán cuts ties with Lajos Simicska, former economic ally.
2016 23.8 Purchase of Mediaworks Hungary and Echo TV.
2017 120.0 Purchase of 49% share in the MKB Bank. Purchases in tourism and wineries around Lake Balaton.
2018 280.0 Transfer of ownership of the entire media portfolio to the Central European Press and Media Foundation (KESMA) without financial compensation. Purchase of the Mátra Power Plant.

Football

Around 2007 Mészáros began to invest in the local football team, and acquired it in 2008. He has been sponsoring the team for many years. He oversaw the government funded construction of the 3500-seat Pancho Arena football stadium in Felcsút.

Family

Lőrinc Mészáros is married since 1986 to Mészáros Csilla Lőrincné Beatrix Kelemen. Their children are Lőrinc, Beatrix, Ágnes, who work in the family holding. Lőrinc Mészáros Jr. farmer, site manager, Beatrix Mészáros lawyer, head of agricultural affairs, Ágnes Homlok-Mészáros is the head of the mineral water business. In addition, all three children are members of Konzum Zrt's Board of Directors, while Beatrix and Ágnes are also members of Opimus Press Zrt. Beatrix later became chairman of the Mátra Power Plant Supervisory Board.

His brother, János Mészáros, also won several high-value public procurement contracts after 2013[29]

In the Media

On July 25, 2017, Bloomberg Businessweek published an article on Mészáros analyzing the mayor's wealth after the controversial acquisition of 20% in the Hungarian conglomerate Konzum Nyrt.[30] Konzum’s share prices dropped 99% in one year before the acquisition, along with a sevenfold increase in its short-term debt, and it cut off its staff by 86 percent. In the year after the acquisition the share prices increased 50-fold has a market value of about $142 million. After the media questioned how is this spectacular growth possible, Lorinc Meszaros responded “Maybe I’m smarter than Zuckerberg”. The stock prices of another Mészáros company, Opimus Global Nyrt., underwent another spectacular eight-fold increase in less than a year.[23]

References
  1. "A Felcsúti Utánpótlás Nevelésért Alapítvány 4/2014 sz. határozata" (PDF). Puskás Akadémia FC. 2014-04-30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-12-25. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
  2. Forbes. "Forbes profile: Lőrinc Mészáros". forbes.com. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
  3. Forbes. "Az 50 leggazdagabb magyar 2019-ben". forbes.hu. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
  4. "Felcsút települési választás eredményei". National Election Office of Hungary. 2010-12-20. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  5. "Időközi: Elsöprő Fidesz-KDNP-s győzelem Felcsúton". Fidesz. 2011-07-09. Archived from the original on 2016-04-08. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  6. "Felcsút települési választás eredményei". National Election Office of Hungary. 2014-11-18. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  7. "Magyar Narancs". web.archive.org. 2017-03-20. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  8. ""Írja be Mészáros Lőrinc vagyonát is!" - nekimentek Orbánnak | VS.hu". web.archive.org. 2017-03-20. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  9. "mészáros_lőrinc - B1 BLOGCSALÁD". web.archive.org. 2017-03-11. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  10. Zrt, HVG Kiadó (2017-04-27). "Mészáros Lőrinc egyetlen év alatt 100 milliárddal lett gazdagabb – itt a lista". hvg.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  11. "Egymás után másodszor is kétharmad: ez politikai világsiker!". Magyar Nemzet (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  12. "Berobbant a gázszerelő: Mészáros Lőrinc a milliárdosok klubjában". web.archive.org. 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  13. "Minden arannyá válik Mészáros Lőrinc kezében". web.archive.org. 2016-05-16. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  14. "Felcsút polgármestere, Mészáros Lőrinc Orbán strómanja? - Budapest Beacon". web.archive.org. 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  15. "Magyar Narancs". web.archive.org. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  16. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "In Hungary, Viktor Orban's favorite mayor goes on a shopping spree | DW | 25.10.2017". DW.COM. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  17. "Lőrinc Mészáros". The Orange Files. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  18. Tamás, Botos (2016-12-13). "225 milliárd: Mészáros Lőrinc cégei ennyit nyertek idén közbeszerzéseken". 444. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  19. "Viktor Orban's village is getting an artificial lake and an island, funded by the European Union". English. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  20. "2018-ban Mészáros Lőrinc érdekeltségei nyerték a nemzeti tőkésosztály közbeszerzési versenyét". atlatszo.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  21. Zrt, HVG Kiadó (2018-04-23). "Mészáros Lőrinc lemond a polgármesterségről, hogy az üzletre koncentráljon". hvg.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  22. "Lorinc Meszaros". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  23. "In Hungary, Viktor Orban's favorite mayor goes on a shopping spree | DW | 25.10.2017". DW.COM. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  24. Patricolo, Claudia (2019-04-29). "Company with ties to Hungarian PM wins high-speed railway tender". Emerging Europe | News, Intelligence, Community. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  25. "Hungary PM Orban's ally to co-build Chinese railway for $2.1 billion". Reuters. 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  26. András, Szabó (2018-09-10). "The business partner of Lorinc Meszaros is bidding for two valueable Paks 2 tenders". Direkt36. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  27. "Company owned by pro-Orban businessman expected to win €110 million soil improvement job at the Paks II NPP site". English. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  28. Zrt, HVG Kiadó (2018-10-17). "Nézze meg: listába szedték Mészáros Lőrinc cégeit – és jó hosszú lett". hvg.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  29. "Már Mészáros Lőrinc testvére is sorra húzza be a nagy megbízásokat". 24.hu (in Hungarian). 2019-04-15. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  30. "What's Boosting the World's Best-Performing Stock?". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
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