About us

 

History

EMMA investment holding was founded in 2012 on the initiative of Jiří Šmejc. At that time, Jiří Šmejc held a five percent share in Petr Kellner's PPF Group and had just agreed on a division of the assets jointly held by them. 

As early as a year after its founding, EMMA secured its first major acquisition by leading an international consortium that succeeded in a tender for the privatisation of a 33% stake in the Greek gaming company OPAP. Since then, EMMA Group managed the company and oversaw its extensive restructuring process.

EMMA Group subsequently strengthened its presence in the gaming sphere through further acquisitions. It gradually acquired stakes in the Austrian companies Casinos Austria and Österreichische Lotterien, in the Italian LOTTOITALIA, and in the Croatian SuperSport. EMMA closely cooperated with KKCG Group in all of these transactions.

Thanks to this successful collaboration, the two Groups saw a significant convergence of their business interests. This led Jiří Šmejc and Karel Komárek, the owner of KKCG, to unify their activities in the field of gaming, resulting in the creation of SAZKA Group, in which KKCG held 75% and EMMA the remaining 25%. Simultaneously, EMMA gained a corresponding share in the Czech lottery company SAZKA.

At the turn of 2019, EMMA Group and KKCG Group came to an agreement on dividing their assets in SAZKA Group. EMMA Group thus retained stakes in the Croatian gaming company SuperSport, as well as financial compensation on the order of several hundred million Euro for the other assets.

In subsequent years, Jiří Šmejc, who had previously been the sole owner of EMMA, offered minority stakes to his key partners. While Jiří Šmejc remains the majority shareholder, Pavel Horák, Tomáš Kočka, Ondřej Frydrych, Michal Houšť and Peter Stohr hold minority stakes in the management company EMMA Capital. José Garza, another notable person, entered directly as an equity investor into the Romanian GAZ SUD Group, which was a further notable acquisition of EMMA Group and today operates under the name of Premier Energy. Additionally, in 2019, EMMA Capital expanded its assets in this field through acquiring a majority stake in key Moldovan energy companies, which are today known as Premier Energy Distribution and Premier Energy.

Strategy

EMMA Group’s activities are directed towards acquisitions, primarily in customer-oriented fields. 

The Group's preferred strategy is to take an active role in the management of the companies that it brings under its umbrella. Each new company undergoes a certain degree of restructuring and new impulses for further growth. These are overseen and managed by EMMA’s team of experts to ensure that the given company can successfully complete the process.