photo: Škoda Transportation press materials/Škoda Transportation
Mr. Michal Korecký, a minority shareholder and member of the Škoda Transportation Supervisory Board, is strengthening the Škoda Group. PPF bought 2.1% of the shares from the investment group for 250 million Czech crowns (CZK), thus increasing its share to 14.3%. It is evident that Mr. Korecký 's influence in the group is gradually increasing - last year he increased the original tenth share to 12.2% by almost 240 million.
"The sale of another minority stake in the Škoda Transportation Group to a company managed by Michal Korecký is in line with the shareholder settlement between PPF and Michal Korecký," explained PPF´s spokesman Leoš Rousek.
According to a statement by the PPF Group, Mr. Korecký bought shares worth EUR 10 million in September, in terms of crowns for more than a quarter of a billion crowns. According to the transaction, the value of the entire engineering group is less than 12 billion crowns.
It is obvious, that Mr. Korecký 's power in the group is gradually growing - last year, he raised the original tenth share to 12.2% for almost 240 million. He was one of the shareholders already at the time of privatization when the Škoda holding was owned by Tomáš Krsek, Marek Čmejla, and Jiří Diviš.
In the end, only Škoda Transportation remained active out of the entire holding, because there was a disagreement between the shareholders during the sale process. Mr. Krsek and Mr. Korecký had most of the visible differences. The Energy and Industrial Holding company was originally assumed to purchase Škoda Transportation. Mr. Krsek and the head of the holding, Mr. Daniel Křetínský, agreed that he would remain a shareholder and manager even after the sale. This offended the other shareholders, who decided to turn to the then owner of the PPF group, Mr. Petr Kellner, to join the sale process at the last minute. After the arrival of Petr Kellner, Mr. Korecký remained a shareholder. PPF Group provided an operating loan to Škoda Transportation, as after disagreements between the shareholders, the banks required that the transaction reduce the company's debt. According to the annual report of 2018, PPF was supposed to pay approximately 360 million euros, which at the time represented 9.3 billion crowns.
Škoda Transportaion includes several subsidiaries, such as Škoda Eletric, Škoda Vagonka or Škoda Pars. Other companies can be found abroad - Germany, Finland, the USA, Poland, Hungary, and Russia.