Expanding Czech group EPH buys companies in Germany, Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands

Profile of Czech group EPH, which acquired the MaasStroom gas-fired power plant in Rotterdam and a 50% stake in Dutch company Enecogen:

– Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH) is the main company of Daniel Křetínský, one of the richest Czechs, who controls a number of industrial, commercial, financial and media companies in the Czech Republic and abroad. The year before last, Slovak financier and one of the founders of the J&T group Patrik Tkáč returned to the shareholder structure. At the same time, Křetínský consolidated his strategic assets, including EPH, under a new holding company, EP Corporate Group (EPCG), in which he holds 89,3 percent and the remaining 10,7 percent is held by a group of EPH managers.

– EPH is a leading Central European energy group. The holding company owns and operates facilities in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Italy, Britain, Ireland, France and Switzerland. Its business spans lignite mining, electricity and heat generation, and electricity and heat distribution. It describes itself as Slovakia’s second-largest electricity distributor and supplier and, according to its own figures, as the operator of Europe’s largest transit network, a key transporter of natural gas to Europe and Slovakia’s largest natural gas distributor. EPH was founded in 2009. The group comprises more than 70 companies.