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PPF agrees to sell stake in energy firm EPH [IntelliNews - Weekly Reports](IntelliNews - Weekly Reports Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Czech investment and financial group PPF has agreed to sell its 40% stake in EPH directly to the energy firm, PPF said in a statement on its website. After buying the shares EPH will cancel them and as a result the remaining shareholders will raise their stakes. EPH chairman Daniel Kretinsky and will boost his stake in the company to 37%, the same as his business partner Patrik Tkac. The remaining shares will be held by Tkac's financial group J&T, which held a 40 percent stake before the deal. The price of the deal was not announced but according to earlier media reports PPF was seeking EUR 1.1bn from the sale. The deal comes several months after PPF bought a 65.9% stake in the Czech unit of Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica for EUR 2.5bn. PPF, owned by the Czech Republic's richest man Petr Kellner, is one of eastern Europe's largest investment companies, active in a number of sectors such as banking and financial services, insurance, real estate, energy, metal mining, agriculture, retail and biotechnology. PPF manages assets of EUR 21bn. EPH is the Czech Republic's biggest heat supplier and the second biggest electricity producer in the country. It comprises over 30 companies active in coal mining, electricity and heat production, heat distribution and trade in electricity and gas. In 2013 EPH agreed to buy a 49% stake in Slovak regional power distributor Stredoslovenska Energetika (SSE) for some EUR 400mn and a 49% stake in Slovakia's dominant gas utility Slovensky plynarensky priemysel (SPP) for EUR 2.6bn. (c) 2014 Emerging Markets Direct Media Holdings LLC Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |