As Media1.hu was the first to report on Friday, we obtained a judicial enforcement document stating that independent court bailiff Dr. Nóra Bihari had seized the 100 percent ownership stake of Luxembourg-based CLT-UFA S.A. in RTL Services Kft. (official short name: RTL Kft.), a company belonging to RTL Hungary. At the time, we were only able to report on the development based on the enforcement document in our possession, as the seizure had not yet appeared in the Official Gazette. Since then, however, there has been a further development: the change has now been published by the company court.
Media1 has now noticed that one day after our article, on Saturday, January 24, the official Official Gazette („Cégközlöny” published by the Ministry of Justice) published the decision of the Company Court of the Budapest Metropolitan Court, which orders the publication of the company court registration of the seizure of the ownership stake previously ordered by the bailiff. According to the published document, the court ordered ex officio that the change be recorded in the company data of RTL Services Kft., meaning the seizure of the shareholder’s proprietary interest.
The decision published in the Official Gazette, signed by Metropolitan Court Judge Dr. Annamária Pulay, states:
“The seizure affects the 100 percent ownership stake of Luxembourg-based CLT-UFA S.A. in RTL Services Kft.”
According to the enforcement documents obtained by Media1, the estimated value of the seized ownership stake is HUF 7.59 billion, meaning an asset worth several billion forints has been placed under enforcement and seizure.
The change is already visible in the Opten company database as well: next to RTL Kft., the seizure of the ownership stake appears as negative information. In addition, enforcement proceedings against RTL Services Kft. itself are also listed as negative information.
Final judgment, failure to comply
The background to the case is that the Szepesi Law Firm (RTL’s former contracted legal counsel) won a final and binding lawsuit in the autumn of 2024 against RTL Hungary and several companies of the RTL Group. At the end of a seven-year legal dispute between RTL Hungary, the RTL Group and the law firm, the arbitral tribunal ordered certain RTL Group companies (M-RTL Zrt., RTL Services Kft. / RTL Kft., R-Time Kft., CLT-UFA S.A.) to pay a total of HUF 410 million, including interest. A significant part of the awarded amount consists of damages for breach of contract and partly for poaching employees, as well as interest and legal costs.
The arbitral tribunal found that RTL unlawfully terminated the contract of the law firm, which had worked extremely successfully for the company from 1998 to 2018 (nearly 20 years), and that RTL breached the non-compete agreement when it hired away almost the entire staff of the law firm — around ten people — thereby rendering the firm practically inoperable and causing significant damage.
According to Media1’s information, the law firm initiated enforcement proceedings more than a year ago on the grounds that, despite the judgment, the company group had not fully complied with the final court decision between autumn 2024 and January 2026. This ultimately led to enforcement proceedings against several RTL companies and, now, to the seizure of the ownership stake — a step that has now been made public and official through the company court publication.
Why is RTL Services Kft. a key company?
RTL Services Kft. is a critically important business and operational unit within RTL Hungary’s operations. According to the Opten company information database, the company employs around 120 people. Its net revenue exceeded HUF 4 billion in 2024, while its after-tax profit amounted to HUF 591 million — all in a financial year in which RTL Hungary itself closed with a loss of HUF 3.3 billion.
Media1 understands that the distribution contracts for RTL’s linear television channels with cable operators and other distributors are contractually assigned to this company.
According to our information, RTL Services Kft. also holds valuable technical equipment and infrastructure elements that are essential to RTL Hungary’s day-to-day operations and content distribution. Although the enforcement legally “only” affects ownership rights, due to the business weight of the company, the significance of the case goes far beyond the seizure of an average subsidiary.
It is important to stress that despite the seizure, the bailiff does not take over the company’s operational management, and RTL Services Kft.’s operations continue. However, ownership rights have been restricted: the company cannot currently be sold. An even more serious development may follow: if the debtor continues to fail to comply with the payment obligation set out in the final judgment, the next phase of enforcement may include the auctioning of the ownership stake.
What comes next?
Media1 contacted both the bailiff’s office handling the case and the Hungarian Chamber of Judicial Enforcement Officers (MBVK) to learn about the next steps in the enforcement process, when the HUF 7.59 billion ownership stake might be auctioned, and from what point and under what conditions potential buyers could submit bids to acquire RTL Services Kft.
In response to Media1’s inquiry, independent court bailiff Dr. Nóra Krisztina Bihari wrote:
“With reference to your inquiry, I inform you that pursuant to Section 229/A of Act LIII of 1994 on Judicial Enforcement (Vht.), ‘the bailiff may not provide information to the press, radio or television regarding enforcement proceedings handled by them. Information may be provided to the press, radio or television by the head of the Chamber’s administrative body or a person designated by them.’ I further inform you that pursuant to Section 229 (1) of the Vht., I am bound by a duty of confidentiality. In view of the above, I am unable to answer the questions posed.”
As of now, the MBVK’s press department has not responded to our inquiry sent on Friday. If any substantive information later emerges regarding a possible auction date of the RTL Kft. ownership stake, we will of course report on it.
RTL was also contacted several days ago, on Friday: our questions were sent to Oliver Fahlbusch, the group’s Director of Communications.
We asked whether they acknowledge that they have not fully paid the amount awarded in the final judgment to the plaintiff (RTL Hungary’s former law firm) since November 2024; whether they challenged the validity of the enforcement proceedings before the bailiff or any other legal forum; and whether the RTL Group anticipated that the case would reach a stage where the ownership stake in this RTL Hungary business unit would be seized. We also asked whether, in light of the current situation, CLT-UFA S.A. intends to settle the amount, and if not, whether the RTL Group is concerned that the next step in the enforcement proceedings could be the auctioning of the stake in RTL Services Kft.
However, no response had been received from the company group by the time this article was published. (Given RTL’s stock market presence, it would also be expected that the group promptly provide clarification regarding such an extraordinary development affecting its Hungarian operations.)
Meanwhile, the plaintiff — the Szepesi Law Firm, which requested the enforcement proceedings against RTL — has also not responded to Media1’s questions, but a source with close knowledge of the case confirmed that they initiated the enforcement.
Media1 continues to closely follow developments in the case. If the parties later respond or if official information becomes available regarding the auction process, we will of course report on it.
For background on the previous seven-year legal dispute between RTL and the Szepesi Law Firm, which passed through multiple judicial forums, see the following related articles (in chronological order):
Az RTL Magyarország elbukott több mint félmilliárd forintot a Szepesi és Kaszó ügyek miatt
