Eastern Slovak entrepreneurs Ladislav Krajňák and Juraj Kamarás have controlled dozens of companies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Neither of the inseparable pair of businessmen is reported separately in the media. They got together during the privatisation in the 1990s. Coming from the East, they made their first money in the ironworks in Košice.
The largest steel producer in Czechoslovakia was dominated even before the arrival of the famous Rezes family. Through their company they traded in commodities, but also in finished products from Košice. They supplied the steelworks with ore from Ukraine and sold the produced sheets to Western Europe. Therefore, in 1992 their companies were already worth more than two billion crowns.
The connection to the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia was even more pronounced with this pair than with other well-known names. Juraj Kamarás was a member of the presidium of the National Property Fund during Mečiar’s first government, Ladislav Krajňák was on the HZDS candidate list and sat on the supervisory board of the Slovak Gas Industry.
Together with another sponsor of Mečiar and other politicians, Milan Fiľ, they made a successful deal when they privatised the SCP Ružomberok paper mill. A few years later, Neusiedler paid them 280 million US dollars for their share in the pulp mill.
Krajňák and Kamarás also controlled Hutné stavby in Košice for some time, through which they penetrated the real estate market. Their ownership interest in AG Bank is also well known. The main activity of the business tandem in Slovakia was for a long time the revival of the production of medicines in Imuno Pharm in Šarišské Michaľany. For the first time ever, the old friends parted ways during an acquisition in the Balkans. Juraj Kamarás bought the assets of Serbian pharmaceutical companies on his own.
Ladislav Krajňák is active mainly in the Czech Republic. While his Slovak wood processing company Smrečina Hofatex in Banská Bystrica went bankrupt due to disputes over energy prices, he poured money into the activities of the Czech CTY Group.
However, the business also faced bankruptcy. The main problem was the almost billion debt of the printing company Česká Unigrafie. It laid off hundreds of employees. Komerční banka had a 630 million (in Czech crowns) debt to CTY Group.
Since Ladislav Krajňák ended his support for the HZDS, he has not been associated with politics. Kamarás has also forgotten the times of Mečiar. Krajňák is, among other things, a patron of the hockey club in Spišská Nová Ves. Both were also behind the Bohemians Prague football club.
