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Here is what happens to the incalculable wealth of billionaire Peter Kellner, who died in Alaska

One year later the death of Czech businessman Petr Kellner, PPF Group is withdrawing from more and more eastern markets. What is happening with the business of the richest Czech?

BLITZ recalls that when Peter Kellner died in a helicopter crash in March 2021., The Czech Republic was shocked. He was only 56 years old, and his country is well known as the billionaire who managed to become the richest man in the Czech Republic by establishing his company in the world’s most risky markets. A year later, PPF seems to be starting to play safer, writes “Deutsche Welle“.

Kellner founded his company during the controversial privatization in the 1990s. In 30 years, the businessman has made PPF the largest financial giant in the Czech Republic – the corporation currently has assets of about 40 billion euros, including investments in banking, telecoms and media.

The question of how in 2010 PPF became the first foreign company with a loan license in China and how it managed to overcome the bloodthirsty competition of Russian oligarchs remains a field of conjecture.

Kellner’s success is often attributed to his skilful political moves. The billionaire was linked to former pro-Russian Czech President Vaclav Klaus and worked with his successor, Milos Zeman, as well as a group of businessmen with ties to Russia and China who have spent years trying to turn Prague’s foreign policy eastward.

PPF withdrawn from Russia and China?
In 2014, Zeman introduced Kellner to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Two years later, when Jinping visited Prague, suspicions arose that he had helped close roads and quell protests against his visit.

Experts say there is no conclusive evidence that Kellner’s political ties have motivated the expansion of the PPF to the east. However, almost a year after the billionaire’s death, his company began to withdraw from some of the eastern markets and turned to Europe and the United States.

Various sources say PPF is expected to sell the Russian branch of its subsidiary Home Credit to local corporation Sistema. The Czech conglomerate declined to comment on the rumors.

In December, however, PPF CFO Katerina Zhiraskova hinted that Home Credit structures could be sold in markets with “limited potential.” Speaking sparked speculation that China Credit’s Chinese office could also be sold.

At the same time, PPF is working on acquiring new businesses. The focus this time is obviously on markets that are closer to “home”. The company is currently working on deals to create the third largest bank in the Czech Republic and expand its influence on telecoms in Europe and the real estate market in the United States.

“PPF has always been and continues to be opportunistic, but at the moment we are focused on established markets,” PPF spokesman Leos Rusek told SG.

PPF is facing increasing difficulties in risk markets
Heavily affected by the pandemic, China’s subsidiary Home Credit shrank from 1 billion euros in the first half of 2020 to 462 million in the first half of 2021. In addition to Kovid-19, the company has other problems in Asia, where competition has increased significantly in recent years.

Home Credit’s local competitors in China have some major advantages: last year, Beijing began restricting foreign banks’ access to the local financial market. It is such changes in regulations that make working in a market like China so risky.

China has changed since PPF first entered the market there,” said Lucas Kovanda, chief economist at Trinity Bank in Prague.

“Constantly growing tensions are making it increasingly risky to work in countries with authoritarian regimes that see business as coming from an enemy state. This probably motivates a company like PPF to rethink how it wants to grow,” he added.

In Russia, Home Credit is facing geopolitical difficulties. “Obviously, there is a lot of geopolitical tension around Russia,” said a PPF source.

“We always follow the money. Look what happens to the ruble. Sooner or later we have to ask ourselves if we want to be in a market with a constantly depreciating currency?” He said.

PPF’s assets are estimated at over 40 billion euros

Prague is moving further and further away from Moscow and Beijing
“To stay in markets like Russia and China, you have to have very good political ties,” Kovanda said.

The company’s CEO Ladislav Bartonicek clearly admits that he failed to position PPF in the risk markets in the same way that the late Kellner did. Bartonicek owns half of one percent of the shares not held by the Kellner family.

The influence of the businessman was so great that after his death the Czech media said that the changes in the conglomerate could change the foreign policy of the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile, President Zeman, who is facing serious health problems to orient the Czech Republic to the east, has met with growing opposition from the country’s political elite. This is happening against the background of diplomatic disasters, which are increasingly moving Prague away from Moscow and Beijing.

“Zeman’s loss of influence is almost as detrimental to PPF as Kellner’s death,” said a company source.

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