Factbox: Czech billionaire Kretinsky's sprawling empire

Unieuro SpA

16/12/2024 14:04

(Updates Royal Mail, Unieuro, removes Atos, TF1)
       Dec 16 (Reuters) - Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky is
pressing on with his buying spree in Europe after the British
government cleared his investment vehicle to buy Royal Mail.
    Kretinsky, 49, a former investment bank lawyer who built one
of Europe's largest energy groups, Energeticky a Prumyslovy
Holding (EPH), has been diversifying into retail, media and
other areas.
    His net worth stands at $9 billion, according to Forbes.
    Kretinsky operates through various investment vehicles,
including EP Group and VESA Equity Investment. The latter has a
portfolio valued at more than 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion),
according to its website.
    Here is a summary of some investments by firms controlled by
Kretinsky and his long-term business partner, Patrik Tkac:
    
    EPH
    Kretinsky holds slightly over 50% in EPH through its parent
EPCG, which owns scores of energy companies across western and
central Europe.
    The energy business of EPCG reported a combined core profit
(EBITDA) of 7.3 billion euros for 2023.
    
    POSTAL SERVICES
    * International Distributions Services  IDSI.L 
    Britain cleared EP Group to buy the Royal Mail parent in a
3.57 billion pound ($4.5 billion) deal on Dec. 16, after
securing commitments that the government said would protect one
of the world's oldest postal services.
    * PostNL  PTNL.AS 
    Kretinsky had accumulated a 31.4% stake in the Dutch mail
and package delivery group through VESA, a regulatory filing
showed in November 2022.
    * Quadient  QDT.PA  
    Kretinsky invested 1 billion Czech crowns ($41.9 million) in
November 2023 to buy a stake in the French mailroom equipment
company. VESA owned 15% of the voting rights as of June, the
French markets regulator AMF said.
    
    RETAIL   
    * Unieuro  UNIR.MI 
    French retailer Fnac Darty and Ruby Equity Investment, both
linked to Kretinsky via VESA, on Dec. 12 reached 96.7% of the
share capital of the Italian consumer electronics retailer, with
the plan to take it private as of Jan. 8.
    * Casino  CASP.PA  
    Kretinsky's Casino buyout consortium said in February that
the Paris Commerce court had approved its plan to bail out the
debt-laden French retailer under an accelerated protection
procedure.
    Following the deal, the consortium owned 53.73% of Casino
shares as of May 6, LSEG data showed.
    * Fnac Darty  FNAC.PA 
    VESA is the largest shareholder of the French retailer,
according to data from French markets regulator AMF. VESA owns
29% of Fnac Darty's voting rights, the investment vehicle's
website said.
    * Foot Locker  FL.N 
    VESA owns 12.3% voting rights in the U.S. sportswear and
footwear retailer.
    * Metro  B4B.DE  
    Kretinsky is the controlling shareholder of Metro with
49.99% of the German retail group's voting rights, German weekly
"Lebensmittelzeitung" reported in March.
    * Sainsbury's  SBRY.L  
    VESA has a 10.06% stake in the British supermarket group,
LSEG data showed.
    
    MEDIA
    * Editis
    France's Vivendi  VIV.PA  agreed in June 2023 to sell its
publishing business Editis to International Media Invest, a unit
of Kretinsky's Czech Media Invest (CMI). Vivendi said in
November 2023 it had received 653 million euros ($713.53
million) after finalising the sale.
    * Elle, Marianne
    Kretinsky also owns several French titles via CMI, such as
Elle and news magazine Marianne, according to the CMI website.
    
    OTHER
    * Thyssenkrupp  TKAG.DE 
    The German industrial conglomerate said on May 23 its
supervisory board had approved a planned sale of 20% of its
steel division to Kretinsky, despite continued opposition from
labour unions.
    Thyssenkrupp said in April the parties were also in talks
about the acquisition of a further 30% stake, aiming for a 50-50
joint venture.
    * DoDo
    Logistics firm DoDo, which provides fast delivery services
to customers in e-commerce, retail and food delivery, said in
May 2022 that Kretinsky would inject 60 million euros into the
group over two years to support its international expansion. 
    * West Ham
    Kretinsky's 1890s Holdings group has a 27% stake in the
English Premier League soccer club, according to the club's
website, in addition to his ownership of the leading Czech team,
Sparta Prague. 
    
($1 = 0.7903 pounds)
($1 = 0.9523 euros)
($1 = 23.8430 Czech crowns)

 (Compiled by Diana Mandiá, Jan Lopatka, Jason Hovet, Alessandro
Parodi and Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Milla Nissi)
 ((diana.mandiaalvarez@thomsonreuters.com))