Meet Daniel Kretinsky, the ‘Czech sphinx’ looking to buy Royal Mail

Forty-five minutes southwest of Leipzig, the 4,200-acre Profen open-cast mine scars the east German countryside and stretches as far as the eye can see. Hundreds of inhabitants across six villages had to be relocated when the mine was opened in 1941 by the Nazis. It produces about eight million tonnes a year of highly polluting lignite, or brown coal.

Profen is but one of a slew of mines that play a pivotal role in keeping Germany’s lights on after the government phased out its nuclear power plants, but enrage environmentalists.

It is also part of the sprawling empire of Daniel Kretinsky, the billionaire nicknamed the “Czech sphinx” for his inscrutable investment style.

“We want to make money in industries that are dying because we think