How Russian gas is fuelling a bid for Royal Mail

The 48-year-old has cited his time growing up during the Velvet Revolution, as the overhaul of Czechoslovakia’s communist government is known, as a driving force behind his love of free markets.

Kretinsky trained as a lawyer before joining Slovakian investment group J&T in 1999, where he made his name as a dealmaker.

His business interests have since expanded through his holding company EP Group, which owns his UK investments, as well as a 30pc stake in Dutch postal operator PostNL and his controlling stake in French supermarket giant Casino. 

Until last year, the billionaire also held a stake in the French newspaper Le Monde – an investment that sparked controversy among journalists.

However, underpinning his wealth are investments in fossil fuels, which have helped him build an estimated net worth of $7.1bn (£5.7bn).

In 2009, J&T spun off its energy assets into a new company, EPH. Kretinsky became chairman and took a majority stake.

Since then, the tycoon has embarked on an acquisition spree, snapping up assets from the likes of British Gas owner Centrica and Eon. EPH is now the largest Czech company by revenue.

At the heart of this strategy was a savvy bet that Europe would remain heavily reliant on polluting fossil fuels despite ambitious targets to transition to net zero.

As most major energy companies began to divest their unfashionable fossil fuel operations, Kretinsky chose to double down on oil and gas.

EPH is now one of the largest polluters in Europe, stemming largely from its ownership of Germany’s second-biggest coal miner.

This strategy has earned Kretinsky a second nickname among Czech environmental groups – the “fossil hyena”.

As for Kretinsky’s UK energy assets, he currently owns the Langage and South Humber Bank gas plants and the Lynemouth biomass plant in Northumberland.

However, it is arguably his stake in Slovakia’s Eustream pipeline, which is the largest transporter of Russian gas to Europe, that has proved most controversial.

This has allowed Kretinsky to cash in on soaring gas prices in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the squeeze on European energy supplies also forcing many countries to slow their net zero plans and return to dirtier sources of fuel.

Barring the purchase of a €43m (£37m) chateau near Paris in 2022, Kretinsky is a relatively understated tycoon, driving an Audi and using a Samsung smartphone.

French journalist Jérôme Lefilliâtre, who interviewed Kretinsky in 2019, told Bloomberg that the billionaire was “not a rowdy vodka guy”.

This approach, combined with a reluctance to speak publicly about his investments, has allowed Kretinsky to fly largely under the radar and earned him his sphinx nickname.

But there are signs that this is starting to change. In a rare interview last year, Kretinsky admitted it was “impossible for our preferred low-profile scenario to continue”.

As the investor pursues more high-profile takeovers away from energy, it is inevitable that the veil of secrecy will start to come down.

At the forefront of this is his bid for Royal Mail. While an initial £3.1bn offer was rejected last week, analysts say this was likely an attempt to drum up shareholder support, and they expect him to return with a higher bid.