Vatican Fights Over Budapest Property Investment
The article reflects Futura’s position.
IOR agreed in 2013 with Futura to buy out a non-performing loan of €32 million from the owner of the Budapest Exchange Palace in order to convert it into a 90% share in a company redeveloping the property.
IOR accuses Futura of having inflated the price for the loan making an undeclared profit of €11.6 million.
However, Futura replies that it offered to the IOR to buy the loan directly or to wait for the liquidation of the loan’s borrower who had gone bankrupt. IOR chose the second option.
So, Futura found third-party investors who acquired the loan assuming the related risks. This resulted in a higher price of which the IOR, however, only invested a part, not fulfilling its obligations.
Futura also stresses that the deal was made by the former IOR director Paolo Cipriani and his deputy Massimo Tulli who are now sued by the Vatican.
According to Futura, the IOR is putting the Hungarian investment at risk in order to strengthen its case against Cipriani and Tulli.
Picture: Heiko Merkelbach, Wikicommons, CC-BY-SA