Czech Billionaire Sees Potential to Boost TotalEnergies Stake
(Bloomberg) -- Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky said he’s open to increasing his holding in TotalEnergies SE, after gaining a stake in the French oil major last month.
Energeticky a Prumyslovy Holding AS, or EPH, owns about 4.2% of TotalEnergies after receiving almost €7.5 billion ($8.8 billion) of share in exchange for a 50% stake in gas and biomass power stations and battery projects in Italy, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and France. Kretinsky owns 50% plus one share in EPH.
“You never know what opportunities one situation may open up,” Kretinsky said on the Everything Starts Today podcast released on Thursday. “The benefit of this position is that it is actually scalable.”
The self-proclaimed francophile — whose net worth is $12.5 billion — built a conglomerate across industries ranging from electricity generation to natural gas transmission and storage. Kretinsky’s wealth stemmed from a bet more than a decade ago that it would take Europe longer to wean itself off fossil fuels than its green strategy envisaged.
EPH, which is barred from selling the TotalEnergies shares for 12 months under the terms of the agreement, could add to its stake, according to Kretinsky, who said he was comfortable with the French company’s risk profile.
“Given that we currently own a stake of less than 5%, if we felt the need to further diversify, we could continue increasing our stake in Total,” he said on the podcast. “Total is particularly attractive in this respect because its market cap is enormous, which means you can allocate additional value there.”
EPH’s stake could also climb if it doesn’t participate in buybacks undertaken by TotalEnergies, according to Kretinsky.
“My basic idea is that we should be strategically diversified,” he said. “Our current position already has very significant value. Of course, it is still only a certain percentage of the whole company, but it’s becoming interesting.”
See Also: Billionaire Kretinsky Sets Sights Beyond Europe With Total Deal
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