Petr Kellner, the richest Czech and a man from Forbes’ list of the richest people in the world, could become one of the most powerful people in BiH soon.
As unofficially announced by the media, his investment fund PPF, whose value is estimated at 35 billion EUR, is interested in taking over the company United Group. United Group is a large regional corporation that owns the largest cable operator in BiH, Telemach, one of the most influential televisions N1 and Sport Club.
Moreover, according to Forbes magazine, Kellner is currently the 94th richest person in the world and his personal wealth was estimated at 13.8 billion USD.
Kellner’s PPF Group is a major stakeholder of Home Credit, the largest company for crediting consumers in China. The rest of his assets include a stake in the Czech telecom company O2, PPF bank and commercial real estate, as reported by Forbes.
To recall, the PPF became the owner of Telenor, the largest telecommunications network in Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary and Bulgaria, in the middle of this year, with which it entered this region.
Kellner operated in the region even before taking over Telenor, since PPF signed a contract with “ASsicurazioni Genrali” in the year of 2007 and made a joint company that operates in Serbia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Slovenia, Croatia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Otherwise, it is expected for the entire sale process for the United Group to be completed in September and it is led by Credit Suisse from Switzerland. The PPF will have great competition since Reuters announced that the European investment funds “Cinven” and “BC Partners” are interested in the United Group as well.
(Source: fokus.ba)
