West Ham United shareholder Daniel Kretinsky in £2.3billion debt concern
Daniel Kretinsky, a large shareholder in West Ham United, is facing debts of £2.3billion with his British power assets, according to The Times.
The “Czech Sphinx” holds a 33% share of the Irons with 66% owned by David Gold and David Sullivan and the final one per cent shared between several smaller stakeholders.
But Kretinsky also has his money in other ventures, one of which is a string of British-based power plants and the rapidly rising cost of energy and electricity is hurting his pockets badly.
As a result, the company had to borrow large sums of money from its Czech sister company and need to repay them within the next 12 months with £226million pre-tax losses for them too.
The British power plant empire believes they will repay everything they owe in time with Kretinsky, who also holds a share in Sainsbury’s and the Royal Mail, likely to be a key factor.
Less investment
The Premier League might generate enormous sums of money every single year but even West Ham won’t be able to find a cool £2.3billion to bail out their part-owner.
Gold and Sullivan must be a little bit concerned to see their business partner in such strife that could have a serious knock-on effect on the football club.
If it was the Czech billionaire’s cash that they were relying on to keep the Hammers moving forward in the footballing landscape then they might have to come up with a hastily put-together new plan.
Surely debts this large means that he can’t throw money behind David Moyes and his recruitment team in January or the following summer without putting himself in serious financial difficulty.
Luckily for the Irons, they spent a huge amount in the transfer window last summer which has drastically improved the overall squad and major changes shouldn’t be necessary immediately.