Daniel Kretinsky has a huge cash pile available for acquisitions that’s fueling a series of high-profile deals over the past year, especially in France.
-- Daniel Kretinsky likes things that others discard. The Czech billionaire has spent a decade assembling an empire stretching from power plants to retail and media where most of the recent purchases shared one thing in common: they were financially distressed.
Less than a week later, another company owned by Kretinsky, EP Equity Investment, said it was to buy Atos SE’s ailing legacy IT outsourcing business, Tech Foundations, which has struggled to adapt to the cloud era. In June, Kretinsky sealed a deal to buy Editis, the second-largest book seller in France, and in March he raised his holdings in retailer Fnac Darty to 25%.
Kretinsky has previously spoken about developing affection for France in his childhood, and his official biography says he spent a semester at the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon during his law studies in late 1990s. He is now that rare thing, a foreign shareholder in some of the country’s most influential media.
“People quickly realized he’s very European,” Lefilliatre said, referring to Kretinsky’s declared support for democratic values. He recalled how the billionaire met many of France’s leading business and political figures at his favorite hotel in Paris, the 5-star Le Meurice. “He has succeeded in everything he tried, including in building up his reputation in France.
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