Markets & Finance

ČEZ sell-off of coal-fired plant(s) ‘satisfies’ EC, may draw new bidders

Brian Kenety — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:59:10 +0000

News that Prague-listed utility ČEZ will sell one or two coal-burning power plants with a capacity of 800–1,000 MW in a bid to end a European Commission probe into suspected anti-competitive behavior — in line with plans to divest from carbon-emitting power generation capacity — has been welcomed by the markets.

ČEZ contracts BNP Paribas to search for Temelín financing partner

István Léko — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:04:49 +0000

The French bank BNP Paribas has won a tender called by ČEZ to find a partner to finance the Kč 200 billion expansion of its Temelín nuclear power plant — if the Czech state-controlled power producer decides not to go it alone, Czech Position learned from a trusted source within the domestic energy sector.

Shares in Czech anti-virus software firm AVG tank in NYSE debut, despite solid fundamentals

Brian Kenety — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:51:22 +0000

Czech-founded AVG Technologies, the “freemium” Internet and mobile security software group best known for its anti-virus products, had a rather inauspicious start to its first day on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) — falling by 16% at the opening from its initial public offering price (already set at the bottom of the expected $16-$18 range). By the closing bell, AVG s

Václav Klaus’ CEP think tank entrusted money to dodgy brokerage

István Léko — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:29:21 +0000

The most famous right-wing think tank in the Czech Republic, the Center for Economics and Politics (CEP), which Václav Klaus founded in 1998 after stepping down as prime minister, entrusted money to Key Investments, an opaque brokerage that has since lost its license and is under investigation by the central bank.

2012: an alarming forecast of what may lie ahead

Tomáš Hlaváč — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:20:01 +0000

In recent weeks and months there has been a deluge of articles speculating about the possible scenarios for the escalation of the current crisis and their impact on states, companies and citizens.

Brussels seeks to shake up credit rating agencies

Chris Johnstone — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:27:24 +0000

Never in the history of the financial world has so much damage been done by so few to so many — that, with apologies to British statesman Winston Churchill, who was also an unfortunate former finance minister, sums up the view of credit ratings agencies from the Brussel’s offices of Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier.

Greek tragedy for Czech PPF Group: Piraeus Bank investment almost wiped out

Tom Jones — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:00:38 +0000

When Czech investment firm PPF Group announced it had acquired a 5.7% stake in the Greek bank Piraeus back on April 29, the share price stood at €1.10. In the aftermath of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s announcement Monday that the recently agreed EU economic plan must be put to a referendum, Piraeus shares tumbled from €0.21 to €0.165 within minutes of markets opening in Europe.

US lawyer Ed Fagan seeks Nazi gold in Czech Republic, as well as bond settlements

Chris Johnstone — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:32:45 +0000

Larger-than-life US lawyer Ed Fagan is seeking two types of treasure in the Czech Republic: As well as his already publicized efforts to follow up claims on a series of interwar Czechoslovak bonds, he is also on the trail of Nazi gold thought to be hidden in the country during the dying days of WWII.

Fagan, together with a business partner, in the US state of Florida, expects by the end of December to dig at one of three sites south of Prague where they believe that Nazi treasure shipped out of Berlin in April 1945 might have been hidden.

Alessio Rastani: Satan, psychopath, or Occupy Wall Street poster boy?

Brian Kenety — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 08:59:14 +0000

“We don’t really care how they are going to fix the economy, the whole situation. Our job is to make money from that. And personally, I’ve been dreaming of this for three years. I have a confession. When I go to bed every night, I dream of another recession.”

ČNB: EU move to prevent crisis via regulation ‘an illusion’

Tom Jones — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:55:17 +0000

Czech National Bank (ČNB) governor Miroslav Singer said in an interview published Friday he doesn’t expect any breakthrough on plans to resolve the eurozone debt crisis, and the problem with the common currency is not the current EU fiscal rules but the failure to observe them. The ČNB on Friday also outlined its position on the proposed EU fiscal reforms and regulations.

Renewables firm E4U wants Czechs to take a shine to solar heating

Chris Johnstone — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:45:40 +0000

Small Czech investors are being encouraged to empty their piggy banks and saving accounts and pile into a company that sees a bright future in the little-used technology of solar heating plants.

Renewables power specialist Energy For You (E4U) is placing 49 percent of the company on the Prague Stock Exchange (BCPP) in an Initial Placement of Shares (IPO), with its bosses saying that guaranteed dividend returns of 6-8 percent make it a surefire stable bet for small investors.

Russia: Kellner’s promised land – and soil

Tom Jones — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 09:22:36 +0000

The largest Czech investment firm PPF Group has completed the acquisition of Russian agricultural hold Rav Agro-Pro, which disposes of huge tracts of arable land in the fertile Chernozem (“Black Earth”) region in the southwest of European Russia. PPF says the investment is at least mid-term and doesn’t rule out a possible IPO. While the country’s agricultural sector has huge growth potential, powerful allies in the government are also key to success.

Czech distiller prepares to spirit off to the Netherlands

Chris Johnstone — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:47:08 +0000

The Czech Republic’s biggest producer of plum brandy (slivovice) and other hard spirits distilled from fruit, eastern Moravian-based Rudolf Jelínek, has decided to move its parent company to the Netherlands. But the historic firm denies that it is following a series of other major Czech corporations who have made the transfer for tax reasons.

Sham: ČNB investigation into Key Investments yields no results a year on

István Léko — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:31:33 +0000

Several years ago, the miner Sokolovská uhelná invested around Kč 50 mln with brokerage Key Investments, but upon closing its account it received just Kč 4.9 million. Key Investments bought bonds in Spolchemie (Spolek pro chemickou a hutní výrobu) with the miner’s cash; the same bonds are in the portfolios of the districts of Prague 6, 10 and 13 — which to date have had next to no success retrieving public funds from the same controversial investment firm.

Return of Prague 13 money as dodgy as its ‘investment’

István Léko — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 08:17:12 +0000

On the surface of it, Prague 13 district mayor David Vodrážka (Civic Democrats, ODS) can be proud as a peacock that unlike his counterparts from Prague 6 (Marie Kousalíková, ODS) and Prague 10 (Milan Richter, ODS) he no longer has to lose any sleep over recovering council money entrusted to the troubled brokerage Key Investments.