West Ham co-owner Daniel Kretinsky is no stranger to juggling multiple investment projects.
The billionaire, known as the ‘Czech sphinx due to his poker-faced business approach, also owns Sparta Prague and dozens of other businesses through his EPH Holdings company.
But the 48-year-old’s attention recently has been dominated by his attempted takeover of Royal Mail parent company IDS, in whom he already owns a substantial stake.
Now, Kretinsky is understood to be readying another huge acquisition – this time of French IT firm Atos.
He has an option to complete a full takeover of West Ham, but his new investment ventures has raised suspicions that may no longer be at the top of his agenda.
Kretinsky’s remarks about latest business venture
As quoted by The Telegraph, Atos is by Kretinsky’s own admission a business in “great distress.”
“[Atos has been] disoriented by a strategic deadlock and suffocated by an accumulation of accounting and financial problems,” his statement read.
The company, for whom Kretinsky is launching a circa £1billion bid, has huge debts and holds a number of vital contracts for the upcoming Paris Olympics.
Turning around a company with revenues of £11bn who presented a loss of nearly £3.5bn in their last set of accounts is an unenviable task and, should he succeed, will occupy a great deal of Kretinsky’s time.
However, a handful of reports in recent months have suggested that the businessman is in fact exerting more control over the Hammers of late.
For example, while David Sullivan and Karen Brady remain the most publicly active in club matters, it is believed that Kretinsky led the decision to replace David Moyes for the 2024-25 season.
When could Kretinsky complete full West Ham takeover?
Through his 1890s Holdings group, Kretinsky is the second-largest shareholder in West Ham with 27 per cent.
Significantly, the family of the late David Gold is believed to be ready to sell a 10 per cent stake of their shareholding.
Should Kretinsky decide to purchase three per cent or more of the Gold shares, that would instigate an obligation to action a full takeover bid.
In theory, this could happen any time. And that may well be welcomed given the turbulent relationship between the West Ham fanbase and the Sullivan-Brady regime.
But given that there has been no movement in shares since the Gold family put them to market almost 12 months ago, it seems unlikely that Kretinsky would launch a takeover bid at this moment.
He is already fighting on two fronts with his campaign to buy two companies in the Royal Mail and Atos whose combined value is well in excess of £10bn. A third may not, at this stage, be in his interests