But picking off assets has proven to be difficult, largely because of a lack of agreement on how to arrive at a fair value for bombed-out financial instruments bereft of a market.

The winner - who wins a car and an apartment in Budapest - will be decided at a finals pageant at a bar that was once bombed out in a Mafia clan fight. (See photo).

In some way, it would be less daunting if the thousands of obsolete factories were literally bombed out.