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An investment company called Kaprona, the first foundation, ran out of money intended to pay investors who provided capital to the company. The municipal court in Prague therefore granted Kaprona a three-month moratorium on her proposal, i.e. protection from creditors. The company intends to raise money for creditors with the help of unspecified securities and the sale of luxury jewelry.
Kaprona received around 415 million crowns from less than two hundred investors through loans. But already last year, the company ran into difficulties, so it terminated all contracts with clients. This led to the immediate repayment of liabilities. The company’s total debts are 516 million crowns.
Although Kaprona received money from investors, it does not appear on any list of investment entities at the Czech National Bank. People provided capital to the company on the basis of documents called “foundation contracts”. Loans to Kaprona were marked in the contracts as a “repayable donor contribution”.
Kaprony’s projects included, for example, Car Simply, a car rental company. However, this project ended. In the same way, the company ultimately failed to launch the Ostrava project Maestoso Advanced Materials for special alloys intended for example for aviation or resource production.
Unsustainable costs
In the proposal for a moratorium, the company admitted that its operating model was costly and ultimately beyond its capabilities. “During 2023, it has been proven that the borrower will no longer be able to maintain the well-established system of high depositor appreciation and the financial burden associated with the payment of above-standard interest, as well as the high costs of car rentals and partner rewards,” the firm wrote in the published proposal for the moratorium.
Kaprona also planned to invest in a project with aquaponic farm builder Future Farming from the Brno-based GFF group, which is now also facing financial difficulties.
“Before the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, the easiest route to Russian money was in Europe. We had something agreed, but we did not connect with any Russian investor, we acted at the level of Swiss and Russian banks. But it all fell apart. When Russia invaded Ukraine, we stopped all these activities. The fact is that if this (Russian invasion of Ukraine, editor’s note) had not happened, we would be somewhere else today,” said Martin Šulc from Kaprona’s board of directors in an interview with SZ Byznys.
“The goal of the cooperation was to establish a joint venture in which Kaprona would provide financing and the technology company Future Farming would supply its advanced technologies of modern agriculture. However, the farm construction phase of the joint project never took place because Kaprona did not fulfill its part of the agreement. Therefore, the financing of the project was not secured,” Future Farming said.
Jewels and bond
As part of the three-month moratorium, Kaprona is now trying to raise money to pay its debts. Among other things, by selling movable property. Kaprona representative Martin Šulc confirmed that this property also includes unspecified luxury jewels in which the group invested.
“We are trying to sell them, but precisely because it is a sensitive process and the buyers would withdraw immediately, so we cannot say anything more,” said Šulc.
The nature of other assets that are supposed to help Kaprona raise money also remains in the dark. Without further details, the company only stated that it is a bond whose issuer is to be an unspecified financial company from America.
However, part of the creditors do not believe the company’s promises regarding the resolution of the difficult situation and strive to cancel the moratorium.
“Creditors believe that the conditions for lifting the moratorium are met in the case of the debtor, both because of false information in the proposal and because of the debtor’s dishonest intention,” reads the published proposal for lifting the protection filed by two Kaprona investors at the end of February.
Crisis boss
However, Kaprona rejects any doubts. And he tries to demonstrate the honesty of his intentions to resolve the situation by, among other things, hiring crisis manager Jiří Melničuk, who saved, for example, the wind instrument manufacturer Amati from West Bohemian Kraslice.
“As a crisis manager, I know how long it takes for companies to get out of debt. It’s been years. And we want to solve it in a matter of months,” said Melničuk.
The fact is that Kaprona promised investors to resolve the situation within six months already last summer. Melničuk admits in retrospect that it was a mistake. “We underestimated how long it would take to monetize some assets,” says the crisis manager.
Behind the Czech Kaprona is the parent company of the same name, registered in Switzerland. Apart from earlier flirting with Russian capital, Šultz from Kaprona denies that the group has anything in common with anyone from Russia.
“There are several individuals, mainly from the Czech Republic, including me. No one has a majority,” Šulc described the shareholder composition of the Swiss Kaprona.
Russian garbage
In Russian open sources, however, it is possible to find a subsidiary company of the Swiss Kaprona founded in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
“We founded a waste disposal company in Russia, but then we withdrew from it,” concluded Šulc from Kaprona’s board of directors.
Kaprona’s case is far from the only one where people entrusted money to a company with the vision of a high valuation, and then had problems getting their funds. Currently, the National Central Office against Organized Crime has launched a prosecution due to suspicion of fraud in the case of the investment firm WCA International. Around six thousand people entrusted the company with over two billion crowns.
Another investment case described by the editors of SZ Byznys is the case of Profit & Prosper. People entrusted this company with hundreds of millions of crowns. Even in this case, it is not clear what happened to the money.
2024-03-06 15:15:00
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