Kaprain group entrepreneur Karel Pražák has bought land in Prague 9

The Kaprain group entrepreneur Karel Pražák has bought land in Prague 9 under the Howden ČKD Compressors industrial complex, which covers an area of over five hectares, from the American industrial concern Howden. According to the city district's plans, a new district with hundreds of flats, offices and shops will be built in the area near the O2 arena. The companies have not disclosed the price of the deal, but market estimates put it in the higher hundreds of millions of crowns.

Kaprain Group recently announced that it had bought the Synthesia chemical company, the Mafra media company and Londa, which operates the Impuls and RockZone stations, from Agrofert. The transaction is still subject to review by the antitrust authority. According to its chairman Petr Mlsna, the group will have to prove who is behind the Kaprain group. The daily N wrote on Tuesday that it had found that two companies from the British Virgin Islands held a majority stake in the group. However, Deník N also reported that the Kaprain group declared that businessman Karel Prazak was the ultimate owner through the Cypriot firm Darelco. According to Mlsna, it will be up to Kaprain to provide credible evidence of who is actually behind the group, he told Deník N.

According to Hospodářské noviny, Kaprain was successful in a tender process in Prague 9, which was conducted by the consultancy Colliers since last year. The purchase of the land was finalised with the Americans a few days ago and the change of ownership has already been confirmed by the entry in the land register, the newspaper reported.

The billionaire Pražák already owns several properties in the area. Recently, for example, he opened a large office building, Harfa Business Center, where he has moved some of his companies and the management of Kaprain. He also owns tower blocks on Českomoravská Street, where the telecommunications company Cetin and Iscare clinics are located.

Marcel Dostal, the head of Kaprain, noted that the group has been involved in the development of Prague's Harfa since 2016. He did not want to speculate on the timeframe for the demolition of the old plant and future construction. According to him, the key now will be negotiations with the city and also the new form of the zoning plan. "In close cooperation with the city district, we will build a full-fledged and modern district here, which will offer a pleasant place to live and a place to work and relax," he said.

Tomáš Szilágyi, Associate Director at Colliers commented: “We are delighted to have advised Howden ČKD Compressors in identifying a buyer and successfully completing the sale of their Prague 9 site. Despite a challenging business environment, the Colliers sales process generated substantial buyer interest for this strategically located brownfield site and, in the end, delivered an excellent result. Given that KAPRAIN has an established presence in the local area made them an ideal purchaser. We look forward to learning about their plans for the site and how it changes the urban environment in this part of the city.“

The transaction was supported by experienced teams of advisors, namely – PRK Partners and Colliers International on the Vendor’s side and BBH on the Purchaser’s side.

Kaprain is an investment group founded in 2013 by Karel Pražák. It focuses on four core areas, industry, real estate, sports and entertainment and finance. According to information on the Kaprain.cz website, the group currently manages assets worth CZK 33 billion and has a 40 per cent average annual growth rate. It currently manages 40 ongoing investment projects. The industrial arm includes companies such as Spolchemie, Rubena and AVE Waste Management. As of 2019, Kaprain is the owner of the Czech hockey club HC Sparta Prague.

Source: Colliers, Hospodářské noviny and CTK