Renáta Kellnerová (born 4 July 1967) is the widow of Czech billionaire entrepreneur and the founder of the PPF Group Petr Kellner who died in March 2021 in a helicopter crash.
Kellnerová’s husband, Petr Kellner, founded the PPF Group in the early 1990s; the company became one of the largest investment groups in Europe, with assets worth around 39.7 billion euros (as of the end of 2020). From 1993 to 1997, under her maiden surname Hacklová, she was a member of the board of directors of PPF moravskoslezský investiční fond a.s., one of the predecessors of PPF Group.
In 2002, she co-founded the Educa Foundation which aimed at providing scholarships to students of the Open Gate – Grammar and Primary School in Babice. In 2009, the Kellners founded The Kellner Family Foundation that over the ten years of its existence dispersed CZK 1.6 billion in support of educational activities in the Czech Republic.
After the death of Petr Kellner, Kellnerová became a beneficiary owner of the 98.93% Kellner’s stake in the PPF Group, becoming the richest Czech citizen.
Renáta Kellnerová made the 2022 Forbes Billionaires List with an estimated wealth of $16.6 billion and occupied the 104th position.
She has three daughters, including Anna Kellnerová, a prominent Czech showjumper. With her husband, they also raised Kellner’s son from a previous relationship.
The majority of Kellnerova’s fortune is derived from closely held investment company PPF Group, which had assets of 39.9 billion euros ($42.7 billion) as of Dec. 31, 2022, according to its website. The company owns stakes in mobile network operators Yettel (formerly Telenor CEE), O2 Czech Republic, Czech Telecommunications Infrastructure (CETIN) as well as Russian gold and silver miner Polymetal International.
Kellnerova and family members are credited with 98.9% of the company. She was appointed administrator of her husband Petr Kellner’s estate during inheritance proceedings after Kellner died in a helicopter crash in March 2021. Following the court-approved distribution of assets, each of Kellner’s four children hold 9.9% stakes and Kellnerova has a 59.4% stake in the group, according to the website.
PPF owns more than 91.1% of Home Credit Group, which had a book value of 600 million euros in 2022, according to PPF 2022 annual report. It was valued using the average price-to-book value and price-to-earnings multiples of three publicly traded peers: Vanquis Banking Group, World Acceptance Corp and International Personal Finance.
Kellner collected more than 1.5 billion euros from dividends and the sale of publicly traded shares, according to an analysis of company filings and Bloomberg data. The value of his cash investments was calculated using these cash flows, insider transactions, taxes and market performance.
Leos Rousek, a PPF spokesman, declined to comment on the net worth calculation.
Biography
administrator of her husband’s estate during inheritance proceedings after Kellner died in a helicopter crash in March 2021.
Petr Kellner was born in Ceska Lipa, a small provincial town in former Czechoslovakia, in 1964. After attending a high school focused on economics in Liberec, he moved to Prague, and enrolled in the city’s University of Economics. He graduated in 1986 with a Master’s degree in economics. Among his first jobs were working for local film studios and selling Ricoh photocopiers.
Kellner sought opportunities in the wake of 1989’s Velvet Revolution, which prompted the fall of the Communist party of Czechoslovakia. With the new government beginning to privatize state-owned companies, Kellner helped create an investment fund aimed at buying up stakes in former Czech assets. Kellner and two partners founded what later became PPF Group in 1991. It had $225 million under management.
PPF’s operations grew to span finance, telecommunications, media, real estate, transportation manufacturing, insurance and biotech. The company’s Home Credit Group is one of the largest consumer banks in Central and Eastern Europe, and has since expanded into China, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Kazakhstan.
Renata and Petr founded Educa, a charitable foundation focused on education, in 2002. In 2011, the couple merged Educa with their other charity, The Kellner Family Foundation, which donates to educational, cultural and health causes.
Milestones
- 1997 Petr Kellner establishes Home Credit, PPF’s consumer financing arm.
- 2010 PPF allowed to set up a consumer finance company in China.
- 2013 PPF buys controlling stake in Telefonica’s Czech mobile phone business.
- 2021 Petr Kellner dies in a helicopter crash aged 56.
