2023-08-02 15:05:54
The economic landscape of France inspires him. After the media and mass distribution, billionaire Daniel Kretinsky continues to invest in all directions in France. This time, the businessman has set his sights on Atos, the second French IT group behind Capgemini, whose finances have plunged into bright red for the past two years.
The transaction, formalized on August 1 for an amount of 100 million euros, allows the Czech magnate to get his hands on Tech Foundations, the branch that brings together Atos’ IT infrastructure maintenance activities., with 52,000 employees worldwide.
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This acquisition, made in a stalled sector, hit hard by competition from the cloud, confirms Daniel Kretinsky’s taste for companies in difficulty and investments against the cycle, i.e. in the trough of an economic cycle.
“It intervenes in sectors poorly valued by the markets but which correspond to lasting needs, which can create value. He is a fine strategist and an excellent negotiator,” assures his adviser, business manager Denis Olivennes, interviewed by the newspaper Les Échos.
An energy baron
With this new move, the discreet forties, renowned for his hard work and his unusual intelligence, makes his third major acquisition in the space of a few weeks in France. In June, he took control of Editis, the second largest publishing group behind Hachette, bringing together more than 40 brands including Robert Laffont, Bordas, Nathan, Plon and La Découverte.
At the end of July, “an agreement in principle” was announced by the distributor Casino, heavily indebted, on the offer of the billionaire associated with the businessman Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière and the Attestor investment fund. This is the first time that a foreign buyer has taken over a historic French brand.
Daniel Kretinsky already knows the distribution sector perfectly: he owns nearly 50% of the German Metro, is the second largest shareholder in Britain’s Sainsbury’s and recently entered the capital of FNAC-Darty.
“In the space of a few weeks, his involvement in the country has taken on a whole new dimension, a CAC 40 boss slips to Le Figaro. He went from face-to-face with Vincent Bollore to discuss Editis textbooks at meetings with the highest spheres of the State around Casino and the plate of the French.”
It must be said that this 48-year-old lawyer by training, son of a judge at the Czech Constitutional Court, is richer than ever. With the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis, the businessman’s fortune, built on gas and coal through the Czech holding EPH, has doubled in just one year, exceeding 9.4 billion dollars, according to Forbes .
France and football under your skin
But for the billionaire, France represents much more than a privileged gateway to the European market in a post-Brexit context. The native of Brno, South Moravia, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, is a francophile and an informed francophone who completed part of his university studies in Dijon.
In the spring of 2018, the tycoon manages to combine his two passions: France and the press in which he has already invested in his native country. He began by buying the weekly Marianne and the magazine Elle, then entered the capital of the Le Monde group. Daniel Kretinsky, who defends “civic engagement”, also bailed out the daily Liberation to the tune of 15 million euros in September, without entering the capital.
Despite the fears inspired by this wealthy businessman with a rare voice, press bosses welcome an investor who does not seek to influence their editorial staff. “He is not at all interventionist, we do exactly what we want,” Caroline Fourest, director of the weekly Franc-Tireur, told AFP recently.
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Now, many are wondering about the billionaire’s next move and his overall strategy as he multiplies investments in sectors with no synergy between them. The businessman would be particularly interested in logistics with PostNL and Royal Mail, in which he already owns shares.
Unless “Citizen K” favors a pleasure investment in the press or in football to which he devotes an all-consuming passion. Main shareholder of the English football club West Ham and owner of Sparta Prague, Daniel Kretinsky has however closed the door to a takeover of AS Saint-Étienne, of which Casino is the historical partner. But there is no doubt that the Czech billionaire should soon find a new playground to satisfy his immense hexagonal ambitions.
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