Businessman Daniel Kretinsky becomes the first shareholder of the Fnac Darty group

The Czech magnate extends his influence in France. Businessman Daniel Kretinsky has become the largest shareholder in the Fnac Darty group, exceeding the threshold of 25% of the capital, according to a statement published on Wednesday March 22 by the Financial Markets Authority (AMF). As a reminder, in recent years, the billionaire has accelerated his investments in the French media via his press group CMI France (She, TV 7 days, Marianne) and is also a co-shareholder of World. He bailed out Release worth 15 million euros and owns more than 5% of the TF1 group.

Daniel Kretinsky “plans to continue” its increase in the capital of the distributor, via its company under Luxembourg law, Vesa Equity Investment. However, he “does not intend” to take control of Fnac Darty over the next six months, it is specified in this AMF document, nor “to solicit the appointment of one or more members to the board of directors”.

At the end of February, an article by BFM Business citing anonymous sources said the Czech billionaire “ready to redeem” Fnac Darty, by taking over the shares of the leading shareholder, the German distributor Ceconomy. As of December 31, 2022, he held 24.2% of the shares of Fnac Darty, according to the group’s universal registration document for 2022. This information had then been neither confirmed nor denied by management.

The Fnac Darty group has announced that it fell into the red in 2022 with a net loss of 32 million euros, due to a court decision in the United Kingdom concerning the sale in 2012 of the company Comet.