Last summer, the government justified the sale of several state-owned defense companies to 4iG by arguing that “there is a need for a defense industry operating on a market basis.” They also emphasized that selling these state-owned companies was beneficial because 4iG would be able to “more easily secure the capital needed” for development.

In reality, however, the opposite happened during this period. According to the investigation by Direkt36, 4iG actually received significant funding—amounting to tens of billions of forints—partly in secret, from the state, i.e. from taxpayers’ money, during the privatization process.

According to documents obtained by Direkt36, the state-owned Eximbank and another state-backed investment firm, Széchenyi Funds, together invested a total of 37 billion forints (€112 million) into a private equity fund linked to 4iG chairman Gellért Jászai. This financial transaction took place secretly in May last year.

Just over a week later, in mid-May, 4iG gained access to even more funding through a state tender. In this tender, a state-owned company entrusted the management of its 50-billion-forint (approximately €123 million) defense development fund to one of Jászai’s fund management companies. That company then placed the money into another private equity fund linked to Jászai.

In August last year, these two private equity funds connected to Jászai injected the tens of billions of forints they had received into one of 4iG’s subsidiaries, 4iG SDT. This was the company that, under purchase agreements signed in October, acquired a majority stake in several Hungarian state-owned defense firms for 72 billion forints (around €185 million), and later also bought stakes in additional defence companies through separate transactions.

In other words, 4iG used funds from one pocket to buy the state-owned defense companies, while the state was channeling a roughly similar amount of money into its other pocket.

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The matter died down after the press conference, and Magyar did not speak about it publicly afterward.

The Ministry of National Economy, which oversaw the defense privatization, did not respond to our questions, including why the state provided taxpayer funds to 4iG while it was buying defense assets from the state. Following the publication of our article, they stated in a letter that “the acquisition by 4iG was primarily financed through a market-based loan consortium comprising both commercial and state-owned banks, and was not linked to any government or state decision.”

4iG did not provide substantive answers to our detailed questions, but they emphasized that, alongside state funds, private capital was also involved in the transactions.

The Széchenyi Funds stated that “economic and financial considerations” motivated their investment in the Jászai-linked private equity fund, adding that they have since “exited,” meaning they are no longer investors in the fund. Eximbank did not respond to our questions.

Within just a few years, 4iG has become one of Hungary’s largest companies, with its growth repeatedly supported by Hungarian state institutions through funding, legislation, and regulatory decisions. As previously revealed by Direkt36, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán considers the company so important that there have even been instances where he personally negotiated aspects of its ostensibly private business deals.

Originally focused on IT and telecommunications, the corporate group spun off its space and defense industry division into a subsidiary called 4iG SDT at the beginning of 2024.

€91.96 million in state support

On May 14 last year, an agreement was reached under which the state-owned Hungarian Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) and the also state-owned Széchenyi Funds (SZTA) provided substantial funding to 4iG.

The contract obtained by Direkt36 shows that Eximbank contributed €74.46 million (around 30 billion forints), while the Private Equity Fund for Economic Development managed by Széchenyi Funds invested €17.5 million (roughly 7 billion forints) into the Ig Tech II private equity fund linked to Gellért Jászai. Thanks to this state funding, the registered capital of Ig Tech II grew from 8 billion to 45 billion forints (from €20 million to €112 million).

The Ig Tech II fund, established in 2021, invests in various space, satellite telecommunications, and digitalization ventures. It can be thought of as a large pool of money waiting to be invested. That is why the fund has a management company, which decides where the money is invested.

Jászai’s fund management company declined to answer our questions about the state investment, citing business confidentiality. 4iG stated that not only state actors contributed to the fund—one of their newly established subsidiaries is also an investor in Ig Tech II.

One of the state companies involved in the transaction, Eximbank, is currently under the supervision of the Ministry of National Economy and officially helps Hungarian companies access foreign markets.

Széchenyi Funds previously fell under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance, but at the end of 2021, the state transferred it free of charge to the foundation maintaining Óbuda University. Technically, this removed it from government supervision, but the connection remained. The company continues to manage investment funds into which the Hungarian state largely invests.

Direkt36 has previously documented several cases in which SZTA secretly provided financial support to government-connected business circles. In 2021, SZTA provided €200 million in state funding to 4iG, which helped the telecommunications company continue its expansion.

We also previously reported that SZTA provided €45 million to finance the acquisition of Euronews by a government-linked Portuguese businessman.

Another €123 million

Just a week after the two state-owned companies invested in the Ig Tech II fund, Jászai secured significant state funding through another route.

In April last year, NTH Nemzeti Tőkeholding Zrt. under the Ministry of National Economy, announced a public tender. This company was originally created to make state-backed investment funds operate more efficiently.

In the tender, NTH Nemzeti Tőkeholding Zrt. was looking for a manager for its state-owned fund with 50 billion forints (€123 million) in capital. According to the announcement, the state fund’s goal was to support the development of Hungary’s domestic defense industry. The tender required the winner to also attract private funding, in exchange for which they would have control over the state fund’s 50 billion forints.

Jászai had a strong chance in this tender. One of the application requirements was experience in defense and/or space industry investments. Judit Zeisler, policy director at Transparency International Hungary, noted that this criteria narrowed the competition, as few could meet it. In the end, in May last year, Jászai’s fund management company won the tender. Zeisler previously reported this in an article for 24.hu.)

Following the announcement of the result, the state fund was merged into a newly established private equity fund linked to Jászai, which was named Ig Tech III. With this, the state fund’s €123 million capital went to Ig Tech III.

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The matter died down after the press conference, and Magyar did not speak about it publicly afterward.

NTH Nemzeti Tőkeholding Zrt., which issued the tender, did not provide substantive answers to our questions about how the winner was selected or whether there were other applicants.

The privatization

Last summer, after extensive preparation, the Hungarian government launched a massive defense industry privatization.
The Hungarian state owns several defense companies, including vehicle and ammunition manufacturers, as well as firms that repair military equipment. In some of these companies, the state is the sole owner, while others are co-owned with large international defense firms, such as the German Rheinmetall.

As the first phase of the privatization, the Hungarian state sold the majority of its stake in several defense companies as a single package. The agreement was announced in June last year, and after the details were finalized, the contract was signed in October. According to the deal, a subsidiary of 4iG, 4iG Space and Defense Technologies (4iG SDT), acquired stakes in six Hungarian defense companies. The total purchase price for the portfolio was a net 72.1 billion forints (around €185 million).

Additional privatization deals were also negotiated. For example, in September last year, it was announced that 4iG SDT would acquire a majority stake in Rába Vehicle Industry Holding from the Hungarian state in the following months for 25 billion forints (€64 million). Rába is one of the key players in Hungarian military vehicle production.

By the second half of last year, 4iG had become a shareholder in multiple Hungarian defense companies. The combined value of these deals exceeded 100 billion forints. The exact amount is unclear because not all transactions disclosed how much was paid for each company’s stake.

In parallel with the announcement of these transactions, 4iG, which participated in the privatizations, also gained access to state funds.

In August last year, 4iG announced in a statement that the two private equity funds linked to Jászai, Ig Tech II and Ig Tech III, would inject a total of 96 billion forints (around €250 million) in multiple tranches into 4iG SDT. These were the same two private equity funds into which the state had invested tens of billions of forints a few months earlier.

4iG explained this step by stating that the money would be used, among other things, “to finance projects in industries connected to the Hungarian defense sector.”

Documents obtained by Direkt36 indicate that the decision on how to use the state funds was made much earlier, in May last year. A contract we obtained between Ig Tech II and the state investors from May 2025 specified that the fund would invest the state money into 4iG SDT.

International expansion

4iG SDT has sought to expand not only domestically but also internationally. The company has formed partnerships with, among others, the leading manufacturer of tactical unmanned aerial systems, the Israeli company Aeronautics, as well as the missile technology and artillery division of the American firm Lockheed Martin.

The defense industry is expected to become even more important in the future, offering significant opportunities for 4iG. Last May, the European Union approved the SAFE (Security Action for Europe) defense development loan framework. Under this program, the Hungarian government could potentially get up to €16.2 billion. So far, the European Commission has approved applications from 18 out of 19 eligible countries, with Hungary not yet among them.