April 8, 2024 – 09:10
Lőrinc Mészáros, friend of Viktor Orbán, former mayor of Felcsút, the richest Hungarian, owner of nearly 400 companies interview given to Indexin which he mainly discussed his business successes, but he also touched on what he thinks of Péter Magyar or what his rivals are with Sándor Csányi.
- Although Mészáros was asked where he would be without Orbán’s friendship, he did not give a real answer. According to him, they are on separate paths, Orbán turned to politics from 1989, while he decided to go into business in 1992, and he owes what he has achieved to 32 years of effective work, but he mentions that he was persecuted as a right-wing entrepreneur during the socialist governments .
- He thinks that some of the memes made about him are particularly funny, and he even laughs at them, but he can’t bear it when they call him a slob or an oligarch. Nor did he take it as an attack when László Pesty spoke out against him by mentioning the Lölő phenomenon.
- Mészáros said that he did not know Péter Magyar personally, who was otherwise a supervisory board member in his bank, he only knew that he was Judit Varga’s husband.
- The last time he spoke with Orbán was a few weeks ago, they mostly talk about football and family, but politics is also discussed between them.
- Today, the Mészáros Group includes nearly 400 companies, and Mészáros himself no longer deals with operational management, they are managed by 40-50 inner circle managers.
- Mészáros already wants to expand abroad, primarily in agriculture and the construction industry, which is why he has already bought a Croatian apple production company and a cement factory in Bosnia. In the hotel industry, they have interests in Austria, Croatia and Montenegro, but the company group is also expanding in Libya and Oman.
- Mészáros believes that they are competitive abroad as well, but according to him, there is also a competitive situation in Hungary. “It’s an ultra-liberal, almost communist slogan that here, Hungarian entrepreneurs just get jobs and hand them out. It’s not true, I’m asking this for myself, but I’m asking it on behalf of all Hungarian entrepreneurs. It’s a misconception, a joke, the world doesn’t work like there’s a joystick and the money spigot is adjusted by who gets how much. You have to work for the orders, compete, win them, and then complete the work in first-class quality, on time, and without extra costs – even in the face of foreign-owned multinational companies.”
- Lőrinc Mészáros became the first in the list of the richest Hungarians in 2023 with HUF 591.3 billion, ahead of Sándor Csányi. He said that although they compete, for example in the banking sector, there is no competition between them as to who is richer, and that he is friendly with Csányi.
- Mészáros claims that G-day, i.e. Lajos Simicska’s confrontation with Orbán, had no effect on him. In 2014, Mészáros only had a fortune of 7.7 billion, but it began to grow spectacularly after Simicska withdrew from NER and parted with his corporate empire.
- In the interview, Mészáros stood up for the private capital funds, according to him, even they cannot hide who the ultimate owners are, so he can be easily checked by the new anti-money laundering body of the union. “I only have legal, transparent income that I take out in the form of dividends from my companies, so that I can then use it, even invest it in a private equity fund,” he said.
- The Mészáros Group is also expanding in the food industry, but for now it does not want to acquire a retail chain, and it would be very difficult to build a new one.
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