Daniel Kretinsky is turning into the brand new man answerable for the Royal Mail.
The takeover of Royal Mail by his EP Group has been accepted.
The board of Royal Mail’s dad or mum firm, Worldwide Distribution Providers (IDS), introduced in Could it had agreed to a takeover of the postal service by EP Group, which had valued the agency at £5.3bn.
However who’s Mr Kretinsky and what’s his background?
The 48-year-old is ranked thirty third on The Sunday Occasions Wealthy Record with an estimated internet value of £6bn – up £2bn since 2023.
Low profile
He is named the “Czech Sphinx” – a reference to the mysterious legendary creature – reportedly as a consequence of his enigmatic nature and reluctance to talk about his investments in public.
Mr Kretinsky is understood for preserving a low profile and barely offers interviews, however is alleged to be a eager Anglophile.
Czech journalist Michael Mares as soon as described him to the New York Occasions as somebody who “you can actually meet downtown, or see driving his [Porsche] Panamera… he lives here, but he’s not someone who will be in a paper”.
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The billionaire reportedly holds a 40% share in Sparta Prague, pictured right here in motion towards Liverpool earlier this 12 months. Pic: Reuters
What’s his background?
Mr Kretinsky was born right into a high-achieving household within the Czech metropolis of Brno. His mom was a high choose, whereas his father was a health care provider of pc science.
After graduating with a level in political science, he labored as a lawyer earlier than becoming a member of funding group J&T Finance Group in 1999.
He shortly rose up its ranks to grow to be a companion in 2003, earlier than making his first vital funding a 12 months later in Czech soccer crew Sparta Prague.
Mr Kretinsky is now the co-owner of his boyhood membership and reportedly holds a 40% share.
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Daniel Kretinsky, second from proper, watches West Ham’s European Convention League remaining victory over Fiorentina final 12 months. Pic: AP
What are his different investments?
The billionaire made a lot of his fortune from power and fossil-fuel investments, however has quite a lot of enterprise pursuits in international locations spanning his dwelling nation, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, the Netherlands and the UK.
They embody Eustream, which strikes Russian fuel by way of pipelines working by Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and sportswear retailer Footlocker.
In 2009, he grew to become closely concerned within the founding of J&T’s power funding firm EPH. He’s the present chairman and majority shareholder of the now multi-billion pound firm, which is a part of a community of linked corporations.
He later raised his funding within the grocery store chain to just about 10%.
His EP Group already owns 27.6% of the Royal Mail.
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Mr Kretinsky’s villa in Prague. Pic: AP
What does he spend his cash on?
Mr Kretinsky owns a 15-bedroom home in London’s Bishop Avenue – often called billionaire’s row – which he purchased for £65m in 2015 and as soon as rented to pop star Justin Bieber for a reputed £25,000 every week.
He additionally spent €21.5m (£18.3m) shopping for a Parisian townhouse down the street from the Elysee Palace from Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev.
The billionaire additionally owns a 25% share of the Velaa unique non-public island resort within the Maldives.
He lives close to his workplace in Prague and has been redeveloping a property close to Sparta’s floor often called Villa Kapsa, which was previously the Iranian embassy.
