Diofa Fund Management, owned by Istvan Tiborcz, the son-in-law of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has acquired five office buildings in New Belgrade from Hungarian property developer Indotek, local media reported on January 11, citing real estate advisory firm CBRE South Eastern Europe (SEE), which acted as advisor in the deal.

The transaction involves 11 premium-category properties with a total area of over 122,000 sqm located within five business parks: Green Heart, FortyOne, Belgrade Business Center, and 19 Avenue.

Indotek announced the sale at the end of 2023 but did not disclose the sales price. It acquired the properties in Belgrade from Warsaw-based Globe Trade Center for €267mn in 2021.

Uros Gujoic, director of the investment property department of CBRE SEE, said the transaction was the largest ever in Serbia and in Southeast Europe as a whole.

Indotek, owned by Daniel Jellinek, was involved in several business deals with Orban’s son-in-law, Istvan Tiborcz, in recent years and is considered as one of the most influential business figures with ties to the Orban family. He sold his controlling stake in Diofa to BDPST and transferred Budapest’s iconic Gellert Hotel to Tiborcz's flagship BDPST group, which specialises in buying and renovating landmark buildings, at the end of 2022. Renovation of the hotel began in 2023, and it will operate under the name Mandarin Oriental Gellert from 2027.

Tiborcz has built up a business empire spanning many sectors, but tourism and property management remain the main pillars.

Investigative news site G7.hu published several articles last year on the money trail between Jellinek and Tiborcz worth tens of billions, through an intermediary.

Tiborcz was ranked as the 27th richest Hungarian with net worth of HUF75bn (€200mn), but investigative sites claim that could be multifold through assets held by proxies and those hidden in private equity funds. Due to disclosure rules, or the lack of them, private equity funds have become popular tools for Hungarian oligarchs to hide wealth.

Jellinek is ranked as the seventh-wealthiest businessman in Hungary, with a net worth of HUF250bn in assets.