Luděk Sekyra

Luděk Sekyra (8 February 1964 in Český Krumlov) is a Czech entrepreneur, founder of real estate development company "Sekyra Group".

After graduation from a secondary school in Kaplice he was admitted to Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague.[1] He became an official of Socialist Youth Union and a member of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.[1] On 13 November 1989 communits daily Rudé právo printed on its front page a group photo of Socialist Youth Union officials including Sekyra.[2] After the Velvet Revolution he became a partner in the law office of professor Milan Bakeš.[1]

In 1995 Luděk Sekyra set up a company JURE (now Sekyra Group) and became chairman of its board of directors.[3] Registered capital amounting to CZK 6.5 million was issued in the form of bearer shares.[3] A year later Sekyra became chairman of the board of directors of newly founded real estate development company České nemovitosti a.s.[4]

In April 1999 JURE was renamed to SEKYRA Group.[3] Former supervisory board member Drahoš Lustig was elected its chairman of the board of director, Luděk Sekyra moved to the post of chairman of the supervisory board.[3] Lustig also became chairman of the board of directors of "Středoevropská stavební" (StS), a company founded in the summer 1999 as a special purpose vehicle to acquire major Czech construction company IPS.[5] StS issued bearer shares, Sekyra had a stake in the company.

In early January 2000 Sekyra secretly joined forces with infamous enterpreneur and lobbyist František Mrázek,[6] who was at the time wiretapped by the police. The police also got court-appproval to wiretap Sekyra and found out that Ivan Langer, a vice-chairman of the parliament and vice-chairman of ODS, is secretly lobbying on StS' behalf.

StS made the highest bid for IPS and on 29 February 2000 got a CZK 2 bn loan from Investiční a poštovní banka (IPB). However, the loan was just for one month, not the nine years originally discussed.[7] On 28 March IPB decided not to prolong the loan, however it did not immediately seize the IPS shares pledged as collateral and on 13 April 2000 Luděk Sekyra became chairman of the board of directors of IPS.[8] On 16 June 2000 IPB went into forced administration[9] and StS was forced to transfer the shares to its rival Skanska. On 20 July 2000 Skanska replaced statutory bodies of IPS.[10]

In February 2002 Luděk Sekyra lent to Sekyra Group CZK 40 million, two month later a further CZK 5 million.[3] He later converted his receivables into equity by subscribing newly issued shares of Sekyra Group, its registered capital increased to CZK 52 million in July 2003.[3]

At the end of December 2006 Luděk Sekyra had a 99,81 % stake in Sekyra Group a.s., during 2007 he transferred the shares to Netherlands-based company SEKYRA GROUP REAL ESTATE N.V. (SGRE).[11] At the end of December 2007 Luděk Sekyra controlled Curaçao-based company CEE Holdings N.V., which had a 95 % stake in SGRE.[12][13]

In 2007 Sekyra Group a.s. made CZK 121 million loss on sales CZK 600 million, its liabilities were by CZK 59 million higher than accounting value of assets (negative ownership equity).[11] In 2008 the company lost CZK 56 million,[14] in 2009 it lost further CZK 116 million.[15] Its largest creditor was Česká spořitelna with bank loans amounting to CZK 1.3 billion.[15]

In October 2010 Sekyra became chairman of newly established closed-end investment fund Convenio,[16][17] which in turn announced a takeover of company Rezidence Korunní. According to evaluation by NSG Morison the net asset value of Rezidence Korunní amounts to CZK 396 million (the original ownership equity amounting to CZK -55 million was inreased by evaluation difference amounting to CZK 450 million).[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c Krystyna Wanatowiczová, Jana Klímová, Sekyrovy zářezy, Mladá fronta DNES, 9. října 2008, page 6
  2. ^ Rudé právo, 13 November 1989, front page
  3. ^ a b c d e f Commercial register at justice.cz, identification number (IČ) 63998611
  4. ^ Commercial register at justice.cz, identification number (IČ) 25059688
  5. ^ Commercial register at justice.cz, identification number (IČ) 25794213
  6. ^ Jana Klímová, Krystyna Wanatowiczová, Podnikatel Sekyra: Role Mrázka v privatizaci IPS byla okrajová, iDNES 9 October 2008 (interview with Luďek Sekyra)
  7. ^ Pavel Matocha, István Lékó, Bakala kontra Sekyra, EURO 47/2008, page 32
  8. ^ Jana Frančíková, Prodej stavebních firem se nedaří, Mladá Fronta DNES, 14 April 2000, page 13
  9. ^ Martin Jašminský, Vláda tvrdě zakročila v IPB, Mladá fronta DNES, 17 June 2000, front page
  10. ^ ČTK, Skanska ovládla dozorčí radu IPS, Mladá fronta DNES, 21 July 2000, page 12
  11. ^ a b Annual reports of Sekyra Group a.s. 2006-2007 (auditor Valda Audit, s.r.o., published at justice.cz)
  12. ^ Annual report of SEKYRA GROUP REAL ESTATE N.V. for 2007 (auditor KPMG, Qualified Opinion, published at justice.cz)
  13. ^ Annual report of Rezidence Korunní, s.r.o. for 2009
  14. ^ Annual report of Sekyra Group, a.s. for 2008, auditor KPMG Česká republika Audit, s.r.o.
  15. ^ a b Annual report of Sekyra Group, a.s. for 2009, auditor NSG Morison audit, s.r.o.
  16. ^ Commercial register at justice.cz, identification number (IČ) 24751448
  17. ^ http://www.cnb.cz/cs/dohled_financni_trh/vykon_dohledu/pravomocna_rozhodnuti/susr-detail.html?cnbid=Sp%20/%202010%20/%20592%20/%20571&&page=1
  18. ^ Projekt fůze sloučením společností Convenio, uzavřený investiční fond, a.s. (nástupnická společnost) a Rezidence Korunní, s.r.o. (zanikající společnost), published on justice.cz