The Nivala Private Equity Fund, holding the majority stake in Hévíz’s Le Primore hotel, transferred its management from Gránit Alapkezelő to Gratissima Alapkezelő on July 31, 2026, hvg.hu reported. The shift occurred months before the Ministry of Economy and Energy filed a formal criminal complaint regarding state tourism subsidies tied to the Kisfaludy program.
Shifting Controls Behind the Le Primore Hotel
The ownership and management architecture surrounding the Le Primore project spans several years and corporate entities. Created in July 2020, the Nivala fund was initially managed by Diófa Alapkezelő, which came under Dániel Jellinek’s Indotek group in early 2020. The BDPST group—flagship enterprise of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law, István Tiborcz—acquired Diófa in 2022. By late 2023, Gránit Bank, then under Tiborcz’s majority ownership, secured a controlling stake in Diófa, leading to a name change to Gránit Alapkezelő in early 2024, Telex noted.
Following a request from the fund’s private investors, Gránit Alapkezelő handed management over to Gratissima Alapkezelő on July 31, 2026. Gratissima’s primary owner is Attila Mészáros, known from his past work with Széchenyi Bank and regional savings cooperatives, according to Klubrádió. Gránit Alapkezelő confirmed that no other funds under its management were transferred to Gratissima.
Despite these corporate movements, the ultimate identity of the private investors holding capital within the Nivala fund remains undisclosed. Gránit Alapkezelő stated that the fund is owned by independent private investors, maintaining that the firm operates strictly within Hungarian and European Union regulatory frameworks.
The Kisfaludy Program Subsidies and Ministry Inquiries
The ownership background of the Hévíz hotel gained intense scrutiny after the Ministry of Economy and Energy (GEM) filed a criminal complaint against unknown perpetrators. The complaint cites suspected misappropriation of funds causing exceptionally significant financial disadvantage and public procurement cartel activity within the Kisfaludy Tourism Development Program. In its public announcement, the ministry explicitly singled out the roughly 8 milliárd forint awarded to the Le Primore hotel, categorizing the property as an interest linked to István Tiborcz.
The BDPST Group firmly rejected this characterization. In statements to the press, the group asserted that neither István Tiborcz nor BDPST has ever owned the Le Primore hotel through direct or indirect channels, adding that neither party held any ownership interest in the Nivala private equity fund either, Turizmus.com reported.
István Kapitány revealed that the state’s comprehensive audit of nearly 23,000 subsidy contracts dating back to 2018 uncovered severe irregularities across a 475,3 milliárd forint funding pool. While the initial 2017 program framework aimed to disburse 300 milliárd forints by 2030 to upgrade accommodations, the total expenditure expanded past 475,3 milliárd forints. Audits indicated that over half of this capital was distributed through individual decisions without open tenders, with a tiny fraction of recipients capturing the vast majority of resources.
Broader Restructuring Within the Gránit Group
It remains unclear whether the transfer of the Nivala fund to Gratissima Alapkezelő is directly connected to the legal scrutiny facing the Kisfaludy program or to István Tiborcz’s ongoing divestment from the Gránit banking group. Financial sector observers have noted intense maneuvering surrounding the multi-stage exit of Tiborcz from Gránit Bank, though questions persist regarding the sources of financing for the buyout deals.
The Ministry of Economy and Energy’s legal action targets the Le Primore hotel and its direct operating owner, Event Horizon Capital Zrt., rather than the fund managers themselves. As authorities examine the patterns of state aid allocation across the tourism sector, the structural separation of properties from their prior management groups highlights a period of significant repositioning among elite-linked portfolios.
