Czech billionaire Kretinsky's sprawling empire
Adds Unieuro, updates Quadient and Atos
July 18 (Reuters) -Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky sought to continue his buying spree this week with a joint offer to buy Italy's Unieuro UNIR.MI.
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 $9.4 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 ($3.3 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.
RETAIL
* Unieuro UNIR.MI
French retailer Fnac Darty and Ruby Equity Investment, both linked to Kretinsky via VESA, offered on July 16 to buy the Italian retailer of consumer electronics and household appliances for around 249 million euros ($272.08 million).
* 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 shows.
* 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 9.99% stake in the British supermarket group, LSEG data showed.
POSTAL SERVICES
* International Distributions Services IDSI.L
The owner of Britain's Royal Mail said on May 29 it had agreed to a 3.57 billion pound ($4.64 billion) takeover by Kretinsky to take the group private.
* 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 ($43.25 million) in November 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.
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 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.
* TF1
VESA holds 5% in French TV company TF1, LSEG data showed.
OTHER
* Thyssenkrupp TKAG.DE
The German industrial conglomerate said on May 23 that its supervisory board had approved a planned sale of 20% of its steel division to Kretinsky despite continued opposition from labour representatives.
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.
* Atos ATOS.PA
The EPEI group consortium led by Kretinsky sent Atos a letter informing it of its interest in rejoining the talks on restructuring the French technology group's debt, after a consortium led by investor David Layani's Onepoint withdrew from the discussions in June.
In February, talks between Atos and Kretinsky over the sale of its legacy operations 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 ($65.56 million) 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 = 0.9152 euros)
($1 = 0.7692 pounds)
($1 = 23.1210 Czech crowns)
Compiled by Laura Lenkiewicz, Diana Mandiá, Jan Lopatka, Jason Hovet and Alessandro Parodi; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Jan Harvey, Sharon Singleton, Stephen Coates, Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Milla Nissi
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