The richest Czechs ladder is led by Kellnerová, followed by Křetínský, Komárek, Strnad and Tykač
The hundred richest Czechs hold assets totaling 2.9 trillion crowns, according to Forbes magazine. Nearly 380 billion of this is owned by the widow of Petr Kellner, Renata. Daniel Křetínský and Karel Komárek have about 100 billion less.
You're asking who is among the richest Czechs? With an estimated fortune of 378 billion, it's Renata Kellnerová from PPF, behind whom stand such brands as O2, TV Nova, or Home Credit. The former wife of a businessman who tragically died in Alaska four years ago, is certainly not resting on her laurels. Last year, she sold the assets of her company PPF Telecom, valued at over two billion euros, or over 50 billion crowns, to the e& group from the United Arab Emirates. This year, she has already managed to control the second largest provider of fixed internet in Serbia and purchase the Hilton and Four Seasons hotels in Prague.
Daniel Křetínský and Karel Komárek have approximately 100 billion less. Křetínský owns mainly the EPH group. Besides that, he is also active elsewhere in Europe. He holds his shares, for example, in the British postal company Royal Mail or the well-known trader Makro. We must not forget about football clubs West Ham and Prague Sparta, for which he is preparing the construction of a new stadium in Strahov. Komárek's holding KKCG, on the other hand, includes the lottery companies Sazka and Allwyn. In addition to this, he is also active in energy and IT. Like Křetínský, he also does business in the field of real estate.
Armourers
The new kid on the block among the absolute cream of the crop is armorer Michal Strnad, who more than doubled his wealth to over 230 billion crowns. Strnad's ambitions are also evidenced by the fact he acquired a third in the Prague Four Seasons hotel, now controlled by Renata Kellner's group.
Other armourers also thrived, making it into the top twenty. Last year, the STV Group of Martin Drda acquired a 17.5 percent stake in the Tatra of Kopřivnice. René Holeček meanwhile profited from the sale of his stake in the Colt CZ Group and subsequent purchase of Sellier & Bellot ammunition.
Tykač and Babiš
The top five richest are rounded off by Pavel Tykač, with assets worth over 180 billion. The owner of the Slavia football team controls his energy holding Sev.en. He also has stakes in ČEZ and Moneta bank. As noted by Forbes magazine, which compiles the rankings, Tykač is now expanding his wealth mainly thanks to investments abroad – he has, for example, bought shares in American companies Blackhawk Mining or Corsa Coal or in one of the Vietnamese coal power plants.
Of the better-known names, Andrej Babiš is in ninth place with wealth exceeding 80 billion. Compared to last year, he improved slightly by almost two billion crowns when he completed the acquisition of the Romanian company East Grain and several agricultural primary producers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. As Forbes notes, Babiš is today the "oldest in service" Czech in the ranking of the world's richest people. He penetrated into dollar billionaires as the second after Petr Kellner in March 2010.
Real Estate Entrepreneurs
Among those involved in real estate, Marek Dospiva is in twelfth place with a fortune of 45 billion crowns, and the head of Central Group, Dušan Kunovský, is in fourteenth place. In the case of the co-owner of Penta, this was due to the overall results of the group, which last year had its historically best economic results. Kunovský can currently rely on projects under construction worth more than 25 billion crowns, which include about 3200 apartments. In 26th position is Luděk Sekyra, whose wealth grew mainly due to large projects Smíchov City and Rohan City. At the same time, construction is being prepared on the site of the former Žižkov Freight Station.
A step lower ended Karel Pražák, who owns a majority in the premium project with the Oaks Prague golf course or extensive land near the Prague O2 arena, where his hockey Sparta plays home matches. Accolade Holding by Milan Kratina, which manages more than fifty industrial parks in ten European countries and operates Brno airport including a logistics area, returned to better results, which brought the businessman to 28th place.
On what basis did Forbes come to these results? As he claims, it is a mix of multiple sources. These are supposedly company results, industry trends, valuations of similar companies abroad, mapping individual business transactions, and advice from financial analysts and experts in business valuation.
Source: Forbes, PPF, KKCG, EPH, Sev.en, Czechoslovak Group, Kaprain, Central Group, Accolade, Sekyra Group, Penta
