Billionaire Komarek’s KKCG Bids On Innogy’s Assets

Prague, May 11 (CTK) – Entrepreneur Karel Komarek’s investment group KKCG submitted a bid for innogy energy company’s Czech assets on Thursday, KKCG spokeswoman Dana Dvorakova told CTK today.

 

Analysts said previously that the price of the deal might reach some Kc100bn.

 

“We are convinced that our offer is attractive, we are offering an interesting bonus to the current market price,” Dvorakova said without disclosing any details.

 

Media reported in April that Australian investment group Macquarie has also expressed interest in innogy’s Czech part. Macquarie owns nearly 50 percent of innogy Grid Holding that is distributing gas on the Czech market.

 

Last year, one of Macquarie’s funds acquired 31 percent of EP Infrastructure (EPIF), a key subsidiary of Energeticky a prumyslovy holding (EPH), an energy group of entrepreneur Daniel Kretinsky.

 

Prospective buyers have appeared recently based on the March deal of the parent company RWE and competitor E.ON in which the latter will buy RWE’s green power subsidiary innogy and the two utilities will exchange large parts of their assets to focus their activities.

 

“At the moment, we will comment neither on the bids nor on the entire transaction,” Martin Chalupsky, a spokesman for innogy in the Czech Republic, told CTK today.

 

innogy supplies natural gas and electrical power and provides other services to some 1.7 million customers in the Czech Republic. It operates 65,000 km of distribution networks, has six underground gas storage tanks, generates heat and electricity in 14 facilities, and ranks among the largest compressed natural gas (CNG) sellers on the Czech market. It has its own network of CNG stations in the Czech Republic. It employs more than 4,000 people.

 

innogy, whose name was RWE until October 2016, has a 86 percent share of the Czech gas distribution market.

 

KKCG has assets worth some EUR4.8bn (Kc122bn). It owns Czech lottery company Sazka, Casinos Austria and Greek company OPAP, MND company that is engaged in oil extraction and gas sales as well as travel company Fischer.

 

According to the latest Forbes magazine rankings, Komarek is the third richest Czech.