Czech Media Invest Offloads Stake In Euromedia To Rockaway Capital

Jakub Havrlant’s Rockaway Capital investment group has agreed to buy a 50% stake in Euromedia Group, the largest domestic player in the book market and owner of the Luxor bookstore network. The seller is Czech Media Invest (CMI) Daniel Křetínský, Patrik Tkáč and Roman Korbačka. The size of the transaction was chosen by both parties not to comment. Rockaway will control one hundred percent of the shares after her.

Rockaway Capital joined Euromedia Group in early 2017 to help digitize another of the traditional sectors – the book market. The current transaction, which is subject to approval by the Office for the Protection of Competition, four years later means that Rockaway Capital will have a nearly 100% stake in the Euromedia group.

“We agreed with our existing partners to buy their share because we believe in the book segment, which Euromedia would have confirmed last year if it weren’t for the covid-19 pandemic. What’s more, it is still true why we joined the company – thanks to digitization, we see great potential in the future, “says Pavel Kalouš, spokesman for Rockaway Capital. CMI did not want to comment on the reasons for the sale.

Together with the Luxor bookstore network, Rockaway Capital is also gaining full control over publishing brands such as the Book Club, Ikar, or Universum, or the largest book wholesaler in the Czech Republic. “For me, the key is that from Euromedia’s point of view, nothing changes. I feel a strong mandate on the part of the shareholder and I understand the current transaction as a confirmation of recent changes in management, “adds the head of Euromedia Group František Mala, who took over the group at the beginning of this year.

Rockaway Capital is an investment group founded in 2013 by Jakub Havrlant with a vision to build strong companies built on new technologies and the digital economy, which aim to disrupt traditional business models. Today, Rockaway is a leading strategic Internet investor in Central Europe with assets in 17 countries and an investment portfolio that currently generates revenues in excess of € 2.5 billion.