Energy, media, football: Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has a broad base. Now he is joining the steel business of the industrial group Thyssenkrupp as an investor. picture alliance/dpa/CTK | Roman Vondrous
Czech self-made billionaire Daniel Kretinsky could soon own half of Thyssenkrupp’s steel business.
According to the Financial Times, Kretinsky is an “impressive dealmaker” who made his fortune primarily in the energy sector.
In recent years, Kretinsky has also invested in retail companies, media and football.
He is one of the richest people in the Czech Republic. Forbes magazine estimates Daniel Kretinsky’s net worth at $9.4 billion. With his investment company EP Global Commerce (EPGC), the self-made billionaire is targeting Thyssenkrupp’s steel division. The Essen-based industrial group announced last Friday that Kretinsky was acquiring a fifth of the shares. Soon it could be half, the talks are ongoing.
The powerful union IG Metall felt ignored in the deal. This Tuesday, thousands of Thyssenkrupp employees are protesting in Duisburg. This shines a bright light on the deal with Kretinsky, which only a few people in this country know about, even though the 48-year-old has long since bought his way into the German business establishment. Who is the man who is supposed to help Thyssenkrupp make its troubled steel business sustainable? And how did the Czech get his huge fortune?
Kretinsky as an “impressive dealmaker”
The Financial Times calls Kretinsky an “impressive dealmaker.” The lawyer earned his money primarily in the energy sector, with gas, coal and electricity. The energy companies controlled by the EPGC generated loud profits in 2023 Reuters an operating profit (Ebitda) of 7.3 billion euros.
In 2009, Kretinsky co-founded the umbrella company Energetický a Průmyslový Holding (EPH), which built a billion-dollar business in the gas market through pipelines and imports from Russia. In recent years, Kretinsky has also bought up unloved coal-fired power plants across Europe. This earned him the title of “coal baron.” The East German lignite companies LEAG and Mibrag also belong to EPH.
Although it made a fortune from fossil energy, Thyssenkrupp hopes that its partnership with Kretinsky will provide a secure supply of hydrogen and electricity from renewable sources. Because Thyssenkrupp wants to produce green steel from hydrogen in the future. For the expensive conversion of its blast furnaces, the company needs several billions – and lots of electricity at affordable prices, which Kretinsky is supposed to guarantee.
The Czech billionaire’s corporate empire
Kretinsky is still considered an “energy oligarch”. But the Czech has built a broad business empire, with well-known companies in retail, media and sports. His EPGC holds 49.99 percent of the shares in the German retail giant Metro. Through other investment firms, Kretinsky invested in the supermarket chains J. Sainsbury in Great Britain and Casino in France, as well as in the US shoe retailer Foot Locker.
In the past, Kretinsky was also a shareholder in the media group ProSiebenSat.1 and the French newspaper “Le Monde”. Back in 2013, the current billionaire and a partner acquired the Czech business of the media groups Ringier and Axel Springer (Editor’s note: Business Insider is also part of Axel Springer)which includes the tabloid “Blesk”, the most widely read newspaper in the country.
Kretinsky apparently has a particular preference for football: at the traditional Czech club Sparta Prague, the multi-investor acts as a major shareholder and club boss. In 2021, a group of investors led by Kretinsky also bought into the English Premier League club West Ham from London. With 27 percent, the Czech is the second largest shareholder in the club, which failed in the quarter-finals of the Europa League against Bayer Leverkusen.
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