Ukraine invasion could hit West Ham shareholder hard

Czech investor Daniel Kretinsky who owns 27% of West Ham could be hit hard financially due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Much of Kretinsky’s original wealth comes from his Czech energy firm EPH of which he owns 69%.

It was the success of this company that allowed him to buys stakes in Royal Mail, Sainsbury’s, Macy’s, Le Monde and West Ham United to name a few.

His energy firm specialises in gas transmission mostly from Russia to central Europe and because of that, his company does business with Kremlin led Gazprom which has this week become subject to sanctions and stripped of their £50m UEFA sponsorship.

Last week the Telegraph suggested Kretinsky and his company could be sanctioned but that seems unlikely.

Despite media led investigations into Kretinskey, no proof has been found that he has a special relationship with Russian President Putin or anything more than a business relationship with state-controlled Gazprom.

In the past Kretinsky has benefited from the energy crisis with soaring prices but the latest developments will see exporting gas from Russia banned and their gas transmission gas pipeline in Ukraine shut down and possibly damaged.

In April 2020 EPH’s subsidiary EP Ukraine has been granted a license to explore and extract mainly natural gas in the Grunivska field (Sumy Oblast, Poltava Oblast) and Ochtyrska field (Sumy, Poltava and Kharkiv Oblast). This venture is also under severe threat with war raging in the Ukraine.