Renata Kellnerova, the richest woman in the European Union’s eastern wing, and her family announced a new corporate structure to house all assets owned by the heirs of the late Czech billionaire Petr Kellner.
Kellnerova and her daughters Anna, Lara and Marie will serve on the board of directors of AMALAR Holding, which will bring together the flagship investment firm PPF Group and all the other companies owned by the family, according to a statement published Monday.
Kellnerova became the majority owner of PPF, a business empire with €40 billion ($42.7 billion) in assets, after her husband died in a helicopter crash in 2021. Since then, the family, which has a net worth of $11 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, has been shifting its investment focus back to western markets following years of expansion in Asia.
“The aim of creating this superholding is to simplify the ownership structure, which will be fully controlled by the Kellner family,” Tomas Perman, a spokesman for AMALAR, said in the statement.
PPF’s key assets are businesses in telecommunications, media, financial services and e-commerce, although the group’s portfolio also includes real estate, engineering and biotechnology.
Since Kellnerova took the helm of the company, she has overseen several large deals, including the €2.15 billion sale of a controlling stake in telecommunication operations in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia to Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Telecommunications Group Co.
The family’s advisory board, which may weigh in on management of the assets and potential strategic investments, will be led by Jiri Rusnok, a former prime minister and central bank governor, and will also include PPF Chief Executive Officer Jiri Smejc.
