Who is the richest Czech? According to Euro magazine, it is the arms dealer Strnad, but E15 claims that the title belongs to Kellnerová.
According to Euro magazine, the richest Czech is now Michal Strnad, owner of the arms group CSG, with a fortune of 330 billion crowns. The competing project E15, which had a ranking compiled in cooperation with the consulting firm KPMG at the same time, however, sees it differently - according to its sources, Renata Kellnerová with her PPF group is at the helm. So who are those at the top of the business rankings?
The value of Michal Strnad's assets increased by a quarter of a billion crowns in the last year, according to the economic magazine Euro.
"The defense and industrial group CSG strengthened its position in the sector, which is growing as a result of several war conflicts,"
said Euro. This year in May, Forbes magazine also identified him as the highest climber among Czech billionaires, although according to its methodology the owner of the CSG group was in fourth place.
Renata Kellnerová, with assets worth 315 billion, came in second place according to Eura, a position usually attributed to her by other rankings. On the other hand, entrepreneur Daniel Křetínský has lost 110 billion crowns this year, which was related to the significant slowdown in the energy sector, which is the focus of Křetínský's companies EP Corporate Group and Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH).
"The decline of this segment, which had been growing significantly in previous years, also reflected in the valuation of the property of other energy entrepreneurs from the top ten of the richest inhabitants of the Czech Republic and Slovakia,"
quoted Euro Czech News Agency.
Further order
The fourth richest Czech is the founder of the investment group KKCG Karel Komárek with 220 billion crowns and on fifth with assets of 190 billion is the co-founder of the investment group J&T Patrik Tkáč. While Komárek became richer by 50 billion CZK, the estimate of Tkáč's wealth is 70 billion lower year on year. The owner of the Sev.en group Pavel Tykač, who became poorer by 32 billion to 113 billion crowns, also paid for the decline in the energy sector alongside Křetínský and Tkáč.
Compared to last year, the magnate Radovan Vítek worsened by 13 billion crowns to 119 billion CZK when he sold the Vienna Marriott hotel and the Prague Ramada hotel, which is located on Wenceslas Square, due to his high debts. The result of the mentioned strategy is a decrease in rental income.
Eighth in the ranking is Andrej Babiš, followed by representatives of the J&T financial group Jozef Tkáč and Ivan Jakabovič. The value of Tkáč's property increased by 14 billion to 67 billion crowns, in Jakabovič's case the year-on-year increase was 12.5 billion crowns to 57 billion.
E15 compiled its own rankings
A slightly different order of the wealthiest was promptly featured by the magazine E15. The value of Renata Kellnerova's assets with her family according to calculations, which were also contributed to by the company KPMG, indeed reached up to 393 billion crowns, which also means first place.
Strnad's arms group was only fourth in this order with assets amounting to 293 billion crowns. However, the majority of analysts agree that this particular entrepreneur is among the main players of the year. His weapons and ammunition are mainly flowing to the Ukrainian battlefield. Moreover, the entrepreneur's company recently signed a contract with the US army, thanks to which he also aspires to become a top European arms player.
According to E15, in second place is Daniel Křetínský with wealth of just under 350 billion, and third is Karel Komárek, to whom analysts have attributed almost 260 billion. Fifth are Patrik and Jozef Tkáč with more than 170 billion, and sixth is Radovan Vítek with nearly 140 billion crowns.
Among entrepreneurs who are involved in real estate, Marek Dospiva from Penta is still holding strong in the leading positions, owning assets amounting to around 45 billion crowns. Next is Ivan Chrenko from HB Reavis with just under 30, Karel Pražák with nearly 25 billion, and Luděk Sekyra and Dušan Kunovský with around 20 billion crowns each.
Difficult access to data
The reason why both the mentioned rankings completely disagree is multifaceted. According to the data and estimates of the law firm Havel & Partners, there are approximately 900 to 1100 billionaires in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with their total wealth being almost untraceable. Therefore, the editorial staff of the E15 magazine primarily focused on the performance of their individual companies or segments in large corporations, always referring to the previous year.
Some entrepreneurs, like Zdeněk Bakala for example, do not appear in the overviews at all. The reason is simple. The processors were not able to trace the wealth of such people, and therefore they were completely crossed out. Journalists are signaling that for the future editions they will do everything to be able to adequately estimate the wealth of such figures. An example would be Petr Dědek, developer of logistic halls and owner of the HC Dynamo Pardubice hockey club. E15 refers in this context to the fact that this entrepreneur is reportedly planning to consolidate his business for the first time this year, and the results will finally reveal the performance of his companies.
Sources: author's article, ČTK, Euro, E15, Info.cz
