Millionaires and oligarchs can only appear in a market economy. The basis of any condition is private ownership of land and means of production. According to some news agencies, Peter Kellner is the richest man in the Czech Republic.
Unexpected debut
In recent years, some publicists have been trying to convince gullible townsfolk that no one was engaged in entrepreneurship under the socialist system. This is a superficial look, far from the truth. In fact, there were such people. Among them is Peter Kellner, who was born in the small Czech town of Ceska Lipa. An event of little significance for the country occurred on May 20, 1964. The family in which the future business leader grew up and was brought up was not very rich. However, it was not in poverty. The Kellner family lived in exactly the same way as most citizens in the countries of the socialist camp.
According to prevailing rules, at the age of seven, Peter went to high school with an economic bias. In the early 70s, an energy crisis erupted in the world. The governments of all civilized countries began to feverishly seek a way out of this situation. To make meaningful management decisions, appropriately trained specialists were required. Assessing the situation in this context, it is not at all surprising that Kellner received an economic education from the famous Prague University after school.
Some piquancy of the situation lies in the fact that on the student bench together with Peter sat the same, no less “advanced” young people. The difference between them is that some of them “wiped their pants”, while others learned the theoretical foundations of the investment economy and practical methods of doing business. In 1986, Kellner received a higher education diploma and began working as a producer in a major film company. Cinematic creativity did not captivate him, but he applied the gained experience in the formation of financial flows very competently.
A brilliant career in business began with the fact that Kellner created the small company Impromat. The income-generating scheme was simple, if not primitive. A young but smart entrepreneur has established cooperation with a company from Japan. Copying equipment and computers were delivered from the country of the Rising Sun to the Czech Republic. It is interesting to note that the Japanese partners were also young and poor, by their standards. The margin from the sale of equipment in the European market reached 500%. It took Peter only a year to put together the initial capital.
Calling Investor
After the Soviet Union collapsed, the restructuring of the economic system began in the Czech Republic. With substantial financial resources at its disposal, already in 1991, Kellner established his First Privatization Fund. At this point, he was one of the few who had a clear idea of how capital works and what mechanisms operate in the global economy. At the first stage of privatization, the future billionaire acquired a controlling stake in Czechia's largest insurance company. A year later, on the basis of this company, an investment and financial group was formed, which began to operate on the international market.
The practice of recent decades has shown that the population in Eastern European countries does not yet have the ability to handle money as a resource for generating income. The process of cognition develops very slowly. Kellner is famous for being always up to date. And even, sometimes, a half step ahead. None of the competitors and partners knows exactly what considerations the investor is guided by when making this or that decision.
On Russian soil
He made his first investments in metallurgical and energy enterprises of Russia and Ukraine. In 1998, a month before the August default, Peter urgently withdrew his assets from the Russian economy. Experts claim that this move saved the company from financial collapse. After some time, Kellner's company returned to the Russian market. For more than fifteen years, a chain of stores selling electronic equipment "Eldorado" has been operating in large Russian cities. In 2016, by decision of the board of directors, this brand was sold. But they purchased the Nevsky Center shopping complex in St. Petersburg.
Kellner Investment Fund owns a controlling stake in Home Credit Bank. For more than ten years, Ingosstrakh insurance company has been owned by an investor from the Czech Republic. Since 2015, the company focuses on investments in the non-financial sector. Enter the Russian oil market so far is not working. However, control over some metallurgical enterprises is already being carried out. In particular, a substantial stake in Polymetal was acquired. The company is engaged in the extraction of gold and other precious metals.
