Czech billionaire Radovan Vítek continues to strengthen his control over Orco Germany, the most lucrative arm of Orco Property Group. Vítek gained control of the board at the last general meeting with the addition of Martin Němeček, deputy CEO of CPI, and Tomáš Salajka, operational director of Orco Property Group. Both men are Vítek allies. The other members include Edward Moss Hughes, Jean Francois Ott, the company’s founder, and Nicolas Tommassini, Orco’s deputy director. Aleš Vobruba and Brad Taylor were removed from the board.
While Orco Property Group posted a loss of CZK 3.9bn last year, its German branch recorded an operational profit of CZK 1bn. Vítek has a 30-percent share in Orco Germany. The company’s two other strong shareholders, US funds Alchemy and Kingstown, want to add Guy Shannon and Ian Cash to the board and remove Ott, who is suspected of supporting Vítek. The board is scheduled to address the matter in four weeks.
