A helicopter crash ferrying skiers to a remote ridge near Alaska’s Knik Glacier last month ended the life of the Czech Republic’s richest man, Petr Kellner. It also set in motion the biggest wealth transfer of the post-Soviet Union bloc.
At stake is a fortune valued at $15.7 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and the leadership of PPF Group NV, a conglomerate with €44bn ($52bn) of assets as of June, of which he controlled 99 per cent.
While the 56-year-old entrepreneur’s widow and four children stand to inherit his wealth, succession arrangements are unclear. On the business side, minority shareholder Ladislav Bartonicek will manage the firm’s operations as his family didn’t play an important role in PPF’s day-to-day operations.
“As organised as Petr Kellner had to be, I’m sure he took care of everything to make the process as simple as possible,” said Petr Kincl, an associate partner at PWC Legal, which represents local and international clients. “Usually, the whole transfer takes a few months, and I don’t see why this would take more than a year.”
While Mr Kellner was instrumental in negotiating some of PPF’s past deals, the group will be able to carry on without its founder, according to Jean-Pascal Duvieusart, a minority shareholder and chief executive officer of PPF’s financial arm, Home Credit Group. Analysts at Ceska Sporitelna and J&T Banka have said they expect no immediate impact.
Critical Time
“Petr had put in place a governance relying on a large team of very senior professionals and a structure where a lot of the responsibility is within individual companies,” Mr Duvieusart said.
Mr Kellner was among five people killed in the March 27 crash of the Airbus AS350 B3 chopper that went down about 50 miles northeast of Anchorage. The copter slid 244 to 274 meters down the snow-covered mountain before coming to rest, investigators said. An avid snowboarder and kite surfer, Mr Kellner had been on vacation at a remote luxury lodge.
His death comes at a critical time as PPF is trying to take over Prague-traded Moneta Money Bank and weighing a potential sale of a minority stake in its Cetin Group telecommunication-infrastructure unit.
PPF chief financial officer Katerina Jiraskova said she expects the Moneta merger to move forward and that the group is sorting out ownership technicalities, according to Czech daily Hospodarske Noviny. She doesn’t see family members joining PPF immediately, though they are entitled to it if they wish.
The group is recovering from coronavirus-related losses suffered by its Home Credit unit. Its consumer lender in Asia and eastern Europe returned to moderate profits in the second half of 2020 after booking record loan impairments in the first six months of the year. The other main leg of Mr Kellner’s sprawling business empire, telecoms in central and eastern Europe, has been relatively unaffected by the pandemic.
Photocopier Salesman
Born in 1964 in what was then Czechoslovakia, Mr Kellner studied economics and worked as a salesman for Ricoh photocopiers shortly after the Communist Party fell in the 1989 Velvet Revolution. His life changed when the newly capitalist state started selling assets by handing out vouchers exchangeable for shares in companies. Mr Kellner took advantage of it with some partners and set up a fund in 1991 that acquired stakes in 202 firms. That later became PPF.
The firm’s operations now span finance, telecoms, manufacturing, media and biotech. Its Home Credit, started in 1997, is one of the largest consumer lenders in central and eastern Europe and has expanded into countries including China, India and Indonesia. Mr Kellner’s business in China has sparked some controversy at home as the domestic intelligence agency include the Asian country among the biggest national security threats
After falling to a low of $8.6bn last May at the outset of the pandemic, his fortune surged amid a rebound in banking and rising telecoms stocks. With his wife Renata, he had founded the Kellner Family Foundation, which donates to educational, cultural and health causes.
“Above all, he was very, very family-bound,” Mr Duvieusart said. “He spent a lot of time with his family and he loved each of his kids.”
The transfer of Mr Kellner’s wealth could be made easier by the fact that his wide business network operating in different industries and regions is all united under the holding structure of PPF, according to PWC Legal’s Kinc.
“The handling of such great inheritance doesn’t have to be much different to handling a case of some mid-sized businessman who had a company abroad, and a few villas in Spain or Florida,” Mr Kincl said.
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope
Defenders: John Stones, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Ashley Young, Danny Rose, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Midfielders: Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph
Forwards: Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETwin-turbo%2C%20V8%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8-speed%20automatic%20and%20manual%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E503%20bhp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E513Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh646%2C800%20(%24176%2C095)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Rebel%20Moon%20-%20Part%20One%3A%20A%20Child%20of%20Fire
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EZack%20Snyder%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESofia%20Boutella%2C%20Djimon%20Hounsou%2C%20Ed%20Skrein%2C%20Michiel%20Huisman%2C%20Charlie%20Hunnam%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
|
1.
|
United States
|
|
2.
|
China
|
|
3.
|
UAE
|
|
4.
|
Japan
|
|
5
|
Norway
|
|
6.
|
Canada
|
|
7.
|
Singapore
|
|
8.
|
Australia
|
|
9.
|
Saudi Arabia
|
|
10.
|
South Korea
|
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
- Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
- Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
- Help out around the house.
- Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
- Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
- Offer to strip the bed before you go.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Monster Hunter: World
Capcom
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
EA%20Sports%20FC%2024
%3Cp%3EDeveloper%3A%20EA%20Vancouver%2C%20EA%20Romania%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20EA%20Sports%3Cbr%3EConsoles%3A%20Nintendo%20Switch%2C%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20PC%20and%20Xbox%20One%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Match info:
Portugal 1
Ronaldo (4')
Morocco 0
more from Janine di Giovanni
Results
Stage 7:
1. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal - 3:18:29
2. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - same time
3. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious
4. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Cees Bol (NED) Team DSM
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 24:00:28
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:35
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:02
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:42
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
MATCH INFO
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
Director: Kangana Ranaut, Krish Jagarlamudi
Producer: Zee Studios, Kamal Jain
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Ankita Lokhande, Danny Denzongpa, Atul Kulkarni
Rating: 2.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
