Against the backdrop of the period when Robert Fico first came to power in Slovakia and the Czech Republic was ruled by ODS, there were also significant links between powerful financial groups with the aim of controlling the energy sector in the region. This was a merger between the PPF group of Petr Kellner and J&T. Apparently, this was mainly the idea of Křetínský, who wanted to significantly develop activities in the energy sector. However, Patrik Tkáč was also an important player in the project. He had already bragged in the media that he had influence on the decision-making of the Fico government in Slovakia. It was the Slovak plans for the sale of major Slovak assets in the energy sector that the group wanted to target in the first years of its existence.
In 2009, the Energy and Industrial Holding (EPH) was created. While the shareholders from J&T were mainly responsible for the business activities themselves, PPF provided a large part of the financing for these projects.
The main goal of the financiers was to control the Slovak gas industry. The Fico government had been preparing the controlled sale of a smaller stake in the company for several years. In the end, J&T shareholders acquired a 49% stake in the gas company. Although the state retained a narrow majority, it ceded virtually all profitable businesses to a private individual. The revelation that J&T Investment Advisors’ letterhead was on the government’s project approval material, which determined the shareholder relations but also, for example, the price of the transaction, also caused uproar. Thus, the government prepared the project according to the parameters prepared by the buyer. The second Fico government in 2013, however, contradicted these claims and comfortably settled the scandal.
In the following years, EPH also acquired other valuable assets of Slovak Power Plants, the mining company Nafta and gas storage facilities. The gas business in Slovakia, a transit country linking Eastern Europe with the rest of the continental customers, brought the group massive profits. In the Czech Republic, in addition to important gas trading companies and gas storage companies, the group also controlled several interesting businesses in the heating sector.
British capital stole steel and oil industry in Slovakia, however you do not cover it here, you are selective with goal to make pressure on particular political oponents.