Factbox: Czech billionaire Kretinsky's sprawling empire

Television Francaise 1 SA

26/04/2024 08:26

(Updates EPH, Thyssenkrupp, Kretinsky's net worth)
       April 26 (Reuters) - Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky
continued his buying spree in Europe on Friday, as one of his
investment vehicles agreed to buy at least 20% of Thyssenkrupp's
steel business in Germany. 
    He has at least six investments in France, three in Britain
and one in Germany.
    Kretinsky, 47, 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 $9.2 billion, according to Forbes.
    Kretinsky's investment vehicle VESA Equity Investment has a
portfolio valued at more than 3 billion euros ($3.15 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
    The group, in which Kretinsky holds 50%+1 share, comprises
more than 70 energy-related companies and reported combined core
profit (EBITDA) of 7.3 billion euros ($7.8 billion) for 2023.
Its assets have installed capacity of 22 gigawatts and produced
72.5 terawatt hours of power last year.
    EPH said on April 25 it was evaluating whether to exercise
an option to take over Enel's  ENEI.MI  stake in main Slovak
electricity producer Slovenske Elektrarne, in which they
effectively hold 33% each.
    It has controlling or large stakes in lignite, gas,
renewable and nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic,
Britain, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy, among
others.
    The group also includes Slovak gas transit pipeline operator
Eustream, gas storage firms, cargo and commodity trading
businesses.

    POSTAL SERVICES
* International Distributions Services  IDSI.L 
    Kretinsky is working on improving an offer for the Royal
Mail parent, a source with knowledge of the plans said on April
17, after his investment vehicle said it had made a non-binding
bid this month which was rejected.
    VESA Equity is the biggest shareholder in International
Distributions Services, holding a 27% stake, according to LSEG
data.
* PostNL  PTNL.AS 
    Kretinsky has accumulated a 31.4% stake in the Dutch mail
and package delivery group through VESA Equity, a regulatory
filing showed in November 2022.
* Quadient  QDT.PA  
    Kretinsky invested 1 billion Czech crowns ($42.7 million) in
November to buy a stake in the French mailroom equipment
company. His vehicle VESA owns 10% of the voting rights,
according to its website.
    
    RETAIL   
* 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.
    The French retailer said on Oct. 5 it had sealed a deal to
avert bankruptcy through a debt restructuring agreed with its
main creditors, led by Kretinsky. 
    This finalised a July agreement in principle that called for
1.2 billion euros of new money to be injected into Casino and a
reduction of its debt by 6.1 billion euros. A consortium led by
Kretinsky will end up with 50.4% to 53% of Casino shares, based
on the July agreement.
* Fnac Darty  FNAC.PA 
    VESA Equity also became the largest shareholder of French
retailer Fnac Darty, crossing a 25% threshold in March,
according to French markets regulator AMF. VESA owns 29% of Fnac
Darty's voting rights, according to the investment vehicle's
website.
* Foot Locker  FL.N 
    VESA Equity owns 12.3% voting rights in the U.S. sportswear
and footwear retailer.
* Metro  B4B.DE  
    Kretinsky holds 49.99% of the German retail group's voting
rights, German weekly "Lebensmittelzeitung" reported in March,
and is the controlling shareholder of the group.
* Sainsbury's  SBRY.L  
    VESA Equity also has a 9.99% stake in the British
supermarket group, LSEG data said.

MEDIA
* Editis
    France's Vivendi  VIV.PA , controlled by billionaire Vincent
Bollore, agreed in June to sell its publishing business Editis
to International Media Invest, a subsidiary of Kretinsky's Czech
Media Invest (CMI).
    CMI publishes four daily newspapers, a number of magazines,
and has an extensive digital and radio presence in the Czech
Republic.
    Vivendi said in November it would receive a total of 653
million euros 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.
* TF1
    VESA Equity holds 5% in French TV company TF1, according to
LSEG data.

OTHER
* Thyssenkrupp  TKAG.DE 
    The German industrial conglomerate said on April 26 it would
sell a 20% stake in its steel business to Kretinsky's vehicle EP
Corporate Group (EPCG).
    Thyssenkrupp said the parties are also in talks about the
acquisition of a further 30% stake, with the aim for an equal
50-50 joint venture.
    The conglomerate's CEO said in January that weakening steel
markets were complicating the talks.
* Atos  ATOS.PA 
    Bloomberg reported on Feb. 29 that Kretinsky was in renewed
talks to buy parts of Atos, citing people familiar with the
matter, a day after negotiations over a 2 billion-euro deal for
Atos' legacy operations unit, Tech Foundations, collapsed.
* 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 English
Premier League soccer club West Ham United, according to the
club's website, adding to his ownership of the leading Czech
team, Sparta Prague. 

($1 = 0.9321 euros)
($1 = 23.4250 Czech crowns)

 (Compiled by Laura Lenkiewicz, Diana Mandiá, Jan Lopatka, Jason
Hovet and Alessandro Parodi; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Jan
Harvey, Sharon Singleton and Milla Nissi)
 ((diana.mandiaalvarez@thomsonreuters.com))