Czech billionaire avoided spotlight
PRAGUE • Petr Kellner, the Czech Republic’s richest man and founder of investment group PPF, was killed in a helicopter crash on a skiing trip in Alaska.
Kellner, 56, was among the five, including the pilot, killed on Saturday in the crash near Knik Glacier northeast of Anchorage, Alaska, State Troopers said.
One survivor was taken to hospital, they said, adding the group had been on a heliski tour.
Kellner, who avoided public attention, was featured in one PPF annual report on a snowboard.
A spokeswoman for the exclusive Tordrillo Mountain Lodge, where the crash victims were staying, said Kellner had been a frequent guest since 2012.
Kellner was a towering figure in the Czech Republic’s post-communist era, amassing wealth estimated at US$17.5 billion according to Forbes.
He was the world’s 68th richest person on Forbes’ 2020 list, tied with media giant Rupert Murdoch and his family.
PPF in a statement expressed “deepest grief” at the death of its founder and 98.9 per cent shareholder.
Ladislav Bartonicek, a 30-year PPF veteran who owns just over a 0.5 per cent stake, will take over management duties, the company said.
PPF’s third shareholder, Jean-Pascal Duvieusart, also with just over 0.5 per cent, said the company would continue building and keeping with Kellner’s vision.
“Petr was somebody who was truly extraordinary in terms of energy, in terms of creativity, in terms of a drive to build new things,” Duvieusart said in a telephone interview.
Kellner is survived by his wife Renata and four children.
He started out selling copy machines as the country opened up following the 1989 Velvet Revolution. He set up PPF with partners for the country’s privatization program.
With holdings in finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, media and biotech, PPF reported assets of $65 billion in mid-2020.
Kellner also financed a think-tank set up by former president Vaclav Klaus, architect of the 1990s privatization that allowed Kellner’s business to rise.
“His life story was an example of harnessed opportunity offered to young people by the economic transformation,” Klaus said.