‘Secretive’ West Ham United co-owner Daniel Kretinsky has been cleared to increase a business stake after a government threat.
It was one year ago this month West Ham announced Czech billionaire Kretinsky had become the club’s second biggest stakeholder.
The excitement was palpable at the time given he has a net worth four times that of existing West Ham co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold combined.
Kretinsky also owns Sparta Prague so fans were reassured that he was here for the right reasons and has experience of running a football club regularly competing in Europe and for silverware.
There was hope among some fans that Kretinsky will one day complete a full takeover of the club and there is a clause allowing him to do just that (The Evening Standard).
The “Czech Sphinx” paid a reported £150m for 27 per cent of West Ham last November and it was predicted his arrival would allow the Hammers to go bigger and better than before in the transfer market.
That certainly proved to be the case during an unprecedented summer which saw West Ham spend £170m on eight quality signings.
While not directly linked, Kretinsky’s business success has a clear and obvious correlation with West Ham.
Simply put, the more successful he is and the more money he makes, he will therefore have more money to spend on the Hammers.
With his main source of income tied into the energy sector there have been concerns given what is happening globally within that industry.
SEE: Daniel Kretinsky’s stunning £65m London supermansion he once rented to Justin Bieber
The Times made a very worrying claim last month, as reported on Hammers News, that Kretinsky’s British power plants empire has been plunged into turmoil as the spike in wholesale gas prices triggers painful cash calls.
But West Ham’s billionaire co-owner also has big stakes in the likes of Royal Mail and Sainsbury’s and has made a fortune snapping up unloved assets.
Now ‘secretive’ West Ham co-owner Kretinsky has been cleared to increase a big business stake after a government threat.
Having threatened to intervene, the government is now prepared to allow Kretinsky to increase his stake in the ownership of Royal Mail.
In August Kwasi Kwarteng, then business secretary, told Kretinsky not to increase his stake in International Distributions Services (IDS), using powers under the National Security and Investment Act.
He issued the warning after Vesa Equity — the largest shareholder in IDS and ultimately controlled by 47-year-old Kretinsky and his business partner, Patrik Tkac — contacted the government to inform it of its intention to raise its stake from just over 22 per cent to more than 25 per cent.
At the time the mail operator was facing industrial action at its UK business in a dispute over pay and working practices and there were concerns that Kretinsky could launch an opportunistic takeover.
In a brief statement to the London Stock Exchange yesterday, IDS said: “The company has now been notified by the secretary of state that no further action is to be taken under the NSI Act in relation to the potential increase by Vesa of its shareholding in the company.”
So what is the end goal for West Ham’s co-owner here given Royal Mail is widely known to be a loss-making business?
Well The Times, who describe West Ham’s co-owner as ‘secretive’, states that Kretinsky has his eyes on another prize.
“It has long been speculated that his interest is not in Royal Mail’s regulated British business but in GLS, its highly profitable European and American courier business, often described by analysts as the “hidden jewel in the crown” of the group,” The Times reports.
“GLS is rated at more than IDS’s current £1.8 billion market value.”
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