The European Commission has approved the acquisition of contract manufacturer Interplex and its five sites in Europe by US asset management giant Blackstone.  is globally active in the design and manufacture of customised interconnect and moved into contract equipment manufacturing (CEM) of industrial and medical systems It bought connector and interconnect maker OCP in January 2021 and has been focussing on battery interconnect for electric vehicles and autonomous driving The fifty year old company has 13,000 employees across 33 sites in 13 countries Pisek in Czechia and Kunszentmarton in Hungary It was owned by Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) having been bought from CVC capital Partners for US$320m in 2015 which took the company private The current deal is expected to be worth around $1bn and the Commission was notified of the deal at the start of December 2021 The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns as Blackstone and Interplex are not active on the same or closely related markets Blackstone owns Aypa Power in the US as well as a range of software and logistics companies and real estate but sees lithium battery technology as a key factor for the US in 2022 ec.europa.eu/competition; www.interplex.com Belépés Absurd cash burning with EU fundsEnglishBelföld On the 20th anniversary of Hungary's accession to the EU we explored what happened to Hungary's ten most botched cash-burning investments in other cases the ruins are still visible while others have presented a new challenge to local government Photo: János Bődey / TelexWhat better way to start our list than with the most perfect example of wasteful spending: the infamous 40 centimeter high observation point in Bodrogkeresztúr which received 40 million HUF (103 thousand euros) in EU funding in 2007 the investor said that according to expert advice as the lookout already provided a good view a natural tree line has grown up in front of the hill obscuring much of the river bend and the mountain from view and will likely be blocking all of it soon Will they add another 40 centimeters for another 40 million It should be mentioned that the infamous lookout was more of a blessing than a curse from a tourism point of view: many people came to the village just to see it As one local man told us: negative publicity is still publicity Sárazsadány spent 35 million HUF (90,600 euros) of EU funding to build a cross-cycling track One could already foresee at the time that the open-air facility on the outskirts of the village would not be attracting masses As we found out from two local men during our visit the zipline was demolished because the village couldn’t afford to spend 50 000 forints on the renewal of the safety certificate The BMX track has deteriorated and has several mounds of grass on it nobody ever uses it (perhaps it's also been sold) The bikes for hire and the floating platform on the Bodrog river with the canoes for hire were sold as soon as the five-year mandatory use period for EU investments expired The road safety track and the playground are still there groups of children occasionally come to use them Photo: János Bődey / TelexThree ornamental fishes swim sadly in the half-drained green aquarium of the Great Turtle House in Rakamaz – the sole heralds of what was once a commitment to providing "Ecological education in line with 21st century technology" The rest of the eco-centre under a cheap aluminum roof has been converted into an exhibition about the ancient Magyars – complete with life-sized mannequins Admission to the quiet visitor center costs 1,000 forints which also allows one access to the 20-meter-high glassed-in lookout tower The staff doesn't recommend using the elevator for fear of us getting stuck There is a bucket under the lookout’s leaky roof and the window is so dirty that one couldn’t spot a white horse from behind it We ask about the starting point of the educational water trail which supposedly has electric boats transporting visitors "Educational water trail?" a local repeats what I said back to me with a sour smile but it was all just a big fuss," he says and the mayor received a year's suspended prison sentence in 2020 over the whole project eleven lookout points were built in the area around Tyukod a village in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county funded with a total of HUF 264 million (683,600 euros) from the EU Only five of them were still standing last year four had been demolished and the fate of two remains unknown The lookouts in Tyukod were built by private foresters who justified their tenders by claiming that these "public amenities in forests" serve the interests of tourism given that Tyukod was not an attractive tourist destination before this either and the wooden towers erected in the forest failed to change this Photo: János Bődey / TelexWhile searching for a trace of the scandal-ridden Cycling Adventure Park on the banks of the Zagyva several Hatvan locals pointed us to the new and a couple walking by marveled at the actual site we had been looking for: "Gee I didn't even notice they'd demolished it!" "There was some kind of bad accident shortly after the opening The adventure park was built in 2015 with a budget of 140 million forints (362,000 euros) and a total of 55 people used it while it was open was one billion forints (2,5 million euros) while the trees around it have only recently nine years later began to reach the level of the structure The remnants of the track were still visible beneath the canopy last year but today the area just looks like a bunch of grave mounds Photo: Péter Lengyel-Szabó / TelexThe forest-less canopy walkway of Nyírmártonfalva should really be included in the list of Hungaricums – unique Hungarian inventions It's the perfect example of the method whereby one believes they can start building a house from the roof down The only thing missing here to ensure that the finished promenade could be enjoyed were the trees which the municipality cut down while it awaited the decision on the application for the walkway But the HUF 60 million (155,300 euros) funding finally came through with the expectation that the trees would eventually grow back as the new saplings planted next to the walkway were already sprouting nicely last year Photo: János Bődey / TelexThe B32 Gallery on Budapest's Bartók Béla Street was opened in 2014 and was renovated and expanded with EU funding by the municipal government of the capital's 11th district The new cultural center made our list thanks to a single item Ensuring the accessibility of such a venue is mandatory in the case of EU-funded projects they solved this by installing a mobile wheelchair lift costing HUF 1.66 million (4100 euros) in order to remove the barrier of one 20cm step we found out that the problem had been later solved by simply bricking up the door leading to the stairs in question and using a cheap mobile ramp to provide access to the new entrance to the theater The parts of the original device are being used for another Photo: Dániel Szűcs / Szegeder / TelexA sledding hill built in 2013 at Jakabszállás with EU funding of HUF 37 million (95,800 euros) quickly earned the nickname the Himalayas of the Hungarian Plain Our correspondent managed to ski down it in the winter of 2017 but not many people have had the pleasure of doing so – as it rarely snows there No wonder the whole business went bankrupt in 2014 fixed up what he could under the name of Magyarkert (Hungarian Garden) and there have even been two years where the weather permitted locals to go sledding He said they would have liked to build a plastic ski slope that could be used in both winter and summer but it would have cost an enormous amount of money which means it is not eligible for tenders their main attraction is a Hungary-shaped garden Photo: Dániel Szűcs / Szegeder / TelexThe Kunszentmárton open beach developed with a budget of more than HUF 50 million (129,500 euros) was officially opened three years ago According to the technical description of the project "the clearing of the area and the bank were followed by the creation of a beach area" where a woman told us that "the free beach is down there but people don't swim there because it's very muddy they only take their dogs down there" "the beach" is more appropriate for mud bathing An elderly fisherman we found told us that the area is mostly used as a landing area for boats A sign near the shore reminds us where we are: "Swimming at your own risk only!" There is also a toilet container a football pitch that barely resembles a field Anyone looking for shade here should give up on that because there's a sign on the trees that says: “Staying under the trees is forbidden and can be dangerous.” Photo: Ervin Gűth / TelexThe Nyugotszenterzsébet bus stop listed on Google Maps as the Erzsébet Lookout The Baranya municipality needed a sheltered bus stop but the only bids available were for a lookout the famous Nyugotszenterzsébet bus stop-lookout was born The locals don't regret the investment: thanks to the new bus stop dead-end village no longer have to walk a kilometer in the snow and mud to the other bus stop in winter months We put the lookout to the test: some of the steps of the ladder had apparently been replaced and the top one is currently being repaired but the hybrid structure still fulfills both functions perfectly We wait and look around a bit from the top but as there is no bus service on weekends "We do our best to maintain everything then because it's hard to see when there will be money for any sort of development again," Balázs Vincze a hunter found golden jackal pups in Kunszentmárton Although the species can be shot all year round the hobby hunter alerted his professional colleagues who arrived on the scene to help the few-day-old cubs It is still uncertain whether the returning bitch will leave the cubs or continue to raise them The 10 cubs were put in a box and taken to the president of the hunting party Golden Jackal pups are difficult to find They are constantly supervised 24 hours a day and are raised with a pacifier Until they are able to feed themselves and become strong they will be placed in a wildlife park where they can live a full life in a safe yet natural environment,” the Bird Hospital’s Facebook page explains Sokszinuvidek.24.hu mentions that it is important to research this species, as such a discovery has never been seen in Hungary and website in this browser for the next time I comment Y"},"category":false,"taxonomy":{"active":false,"name":"category"}},"markup":{"custom_html":true,"wpp-start":"","wpp-end":"<\/ul>","title-start":"","title-end":"<\/h2>","post-html":"{thumb} {title} {stats}<\/span>{excerpt}<\/p><\/li>"},"theme":{"name":""}} You have successfully joined our subscriber list SupportUs Newsletter © 2025 DailyNewsHungary | All rights reserved