VOL. CLXIV · NO. 412TUESDAY · 12 MAY 2026CITY EDITION
THE CITY GAZETTE
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A historic vote · the council, divided
Council backs newtram line.
A 7 – 4 ballot ends two years of debate over the largest civic infrastructure project of the decade. Construction begins in autumn.
By the slimmest possible majority and after a 14-hour session, the city council voted on Monday to approve the long-debated tram line. The project, valued at €240M, will…
Opposition members called the cost estimate "fanciful" but acknowledged the line will reach four neighbourhoods that have long lacked rapid…
Mayor Halász, who broke a 6 – 6 tie last August, said in a brief statement that the city would honour every contract awarded under the…
VOL. CLXIV · NO. 412INSIDE THIS EDITIONSECTION INDEX
Inside this Tuesday edition.
Five sections, twenty-eight pages, one quiet supplement.
APoliticsCouncil backs tram line · opposition reacts · the mayor's letter.pp. A1 – A6
City Gazette · Indexpage 2
SECTION BCITY GAZETTE · TUESDAYB 1
Business.
Markets, ledgers, and the slow turn of capital.
Section editor · R. LansingB section · page 1
SECTION B · BUSINESSBY MARIT KOVALEVA · STAFF WRITERB 2
A market story · slowly told
European funds withdraw €4.8B from venture in a single quarter.
An almanac begins, as all good stories do, in the middle. By the time the first investor returned a call last Thursday, the rotation had been in motion for nearly six weeks — quietly, in modest tranches, never enough to attract a headline. By the time the European Central Bank flagged the outflow on Monday morning, €4.8 billion had already moved.
Most of the capital, analysts now believe, has not fled the asset class so much as recategorised itself: from late-stage venture into private credit and direct lending instruments, where return profiles are flatter but materially more legible to the limited partners whose patience has, for some time now, been running short.
Continued on page B4B 2
SECTION B · BUSINESSA FEATUREB 3
Six things to know
Six things to know about the council's tram vote.
01.The vote was 7 – 4.The slimmest possible majority. Two members abstained, including the deputy mayor.
By the deskB 3
SECTION B · BUSINESSBY THE NUMBERSB 4
BY THE NUMBERS · MONDAY
€4.8B
Withdrawn from European VC funds, Q1 2026.
Reading the rotation
The fastest single-quarter outflow on record.
Most of it flowed not to safer instruments but to private credit and direct lending — a structural rotation, not a panic. The board will read this number first on Tuesday morning.
Source · ECB Q1 releaseB 4
SECTION B · BUSINESSA WEEKLY ALMANACB 5
A weekly almanac
The week's numbers, kept short for the road.
CYCLE TIME−47%Days from first contact to term sheet.
Compiled by the deskB 5
SECTION B · OPINIONA QUOTE FROM THE FLOORB 6
The fastest investor on the table is no longer the one who reads the room. It is the one who has stopped reading altogether.
— Petra Adelmann · partner, Karst Capital
In conversation, March 2026
OpinionB 6
SECTION B · OPINIONPOINT · COUNTERPOINTB 7
Was the tram vote, on balance, a good decision?
POINT · A. NAGAI
Yes — and not before time.
For two years the council has weighed the cost of a line that residents of the eastern boroughs have already paid, in time and lost wages, many times over. The vote, however slim, is an honest one.
COUNTER · R. LANSING
No — and at the wrong price.
The €240M estimate, on which the vote rests, is the same figure the deputy mayor called "fanciful" in March. Either she was wrong then, or the council is wrong now. Both, troublingly, cannot be true.
OpinionB 7
SECTION CCITY GAZETTE · TUESDAYC 1
Arts & Letters.
Reviews, longer essays, the slow weekend.
Section editor · M. KovalevaC section · page 1
SECTION C · ARTSA PHOTO ESSAYC 2
A photo essay
A quiet morning at the eastern boroughs' last bookshop.
For thirty-one years the shop on Hárászti utca has opened at seven, even on Mondays. The light through its single window, photographer Naoko Mori finds, is the same light that drew her here in 1998.
— BY NAOKO MORI · STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
photo · 4 : 5
Arts & LettersC 2
SECTION C · ARTSA PHOTO ESSAY · IIC 3
photo · 4 : 5
From the roof
The view from the printing house, on the last day of the broadsheet.
After 164 years of broadsheet printing the Gazette will, on Wednesday, move quietly to a tabloid fold. The presses will not change, but the paper that goes through them will be exactly half its old width.
— BY MARIT KOVALEVA · EDITOR-AT-LARGE
Arts & LettersC 3
SECTION C · RETROSPECTA SHORT CHRONOLOGYC 4
In retrospect · 2018 — 2026
Eight years of the tram debate, week by week.
2018First proposal tabled by the deputy mayor.A €180M tram line connecting four eastern boroughs to the old town centre.
RetrospectC 4
SECTION B · BUSINESSCHART · NO. 1B 8
Chart no. 1
Returns flatten, then bend in 2024.
— SOURCE: ECB Q1 RELEASE · COMPILED BY THE DESK
Charts & figuresB 8
SECTION B · BUSINESSCHART · NO. 2B 9
Chart no. 2 · tracking the index
Distributions overtake deployment, late 2024.
— SOURCE: PITCHBOOK · CHART BY THE DESK
Charts & figuresB 9
SECTION B · EXPLAINERHOW IT WORKSB 10
An explainer
How a tram project gets approved, in four steps.
STEP 01SurveyA 90-day feasibility study, paid for jointly by the city and the four affected boroughs.
ExplainerB 10
SECTION B · BUSINESSLEAGUE TABLEB 11
League table no. 1
Six funds, twelve years, one column to watch.
Fund
Vintage
Size
DPI
TVPI
Net IRR
Larkfield I
2014
€18M
2.4×
3.1×
22.4%
Audited by KPMG · net of fees and carryB 11
SECTION DCITY GAZETTE · SATURDAYD 1
Weekend.
Long reads, slower coffees, the city on foot.
Weekend editor · M. KovalevaD section · page 1
photo · full-bleed
From page one · the tram vote
Council members file out of the chamber at 11:47 p.m. Monday.
— PHOTOGRAPH BY NAOKO MORI · STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
SECTION A · LETTERSFROM OUR READERSA 14
Letters to the editor
What our readers wrote in this week.
A reader writes —
A vote of 7 — 4 is not a mandate. It is a coin landing on its edge. We should treat it as such, and revisit in three years.
— Hannah ReuterEASTERN BOROUGH, by post
LettersA 14
SECTION A · INTERVIEWA CONVERSATIONA 16
portrait · 1 : 1
A conversation with the mayor
A council that does not, on occasion, divide itself by a single vote is not a council. It is a committee.
— Mayor HalászINTERVIEWED BY MARIT KOVALEVA · MAY 10
InterviewA 16
SECTION B · BUSINESSWHERE IT'S HAPPENINGB 12
Map no. 1
Four offices, twenty-three companies.
Concentration is a feature — we only invest where a partner can drive to the office in under three hours.
Map · the deskB 12
SECTION A · MASTHEADABOUT THE BUREAUA 2
About the bureau
Who actually files the stories.
3 : 4
Marit KovalevaEDITOR-AT-LARGE
MastheadA 2
SECTION A · COLOPHONFROM OUR SPONSORSA 27
Partner imprints
The houses that print, syndicate, and read with us.
Northwind & Co.
Sponsors & partnersA 27
SECTION A · SUBSCRIBESUBSCRIPTION OPTIONSA 28
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SubscribeA 28
SECTION ECITY GAZETTE · IN CLOSINGE 1
In closing.
A short index, a few last questions, and a thank-you to the readers.
Closing pages · the deskE section · page 1
SECTION E · Q&AA FEW LAST QUESTIONSE 2
Q & A with the editor
A few last questions, kept short.
Q · 01Why the tabloid fold, on Wednesday?Because the paper is read on trains, and trains are smaller than they used to be.
Q & AE 2
SECTION E · INDEXA SHORT INDEXE 3
A short index
Four terms, kept short for the road.
Patience —a system, not a virtue. Defend it every Monday morning.
IndexE 3
BACK PAGEA FINAL WORD FROM THE EDITORE 8
In closing
Read it twice.Then write back.
The slowest way to read the news, when done well, is also the only way it will not exhaust you.
The Gazette is set in Iowan Old Style, printed on Munken Pure 100gsm, and folded once. It is edited and produced in Munich, six days a week, by a small bureau of patient readers.