A security guard stands at the entrance to the offices of Fair Credit Czech. He carefully checks the persons who want to enter. It is an expression of a sharp struggle between business groups for control of the company, which has a license from the Czech National Bank to provide consumer loans.
The main parties to the conflict accuse each other of attempting a hostile takeover of the company. It is currently unclear who actually controls Fair Credit Czech. One side of the conflict sent executors to Fair Credit, the other responded with an insolvency proposal.
In the commercial register, the owner of Fair Credit Czech has changed twice in the last month alone.
Rosebary Capital & Investments first appeared in the register as the new owner of the credit company on October 12. Paradoxically, it is the same company that sent executors to Fair Credit Czech in September. Businessman Ivo Krsek is registered as a shareholder of Rosebary Capital & Investments.
Already on October 25, however, the information about the ownership of Fair Credit Czech in the register changed again. The company eMedic Global of entrepreneur Jaroslav Ptáček was registered as the new owner.
Insolvency vs. Foreclosure
After this change, an insolvency proposal signed by Fair Credit Czech itself appeared in the insolvency register. In general, insolvency proceedings cancel the effects of enforcement. The E15 newspaper drew attention to the initiation of insolvency proceedings with the company.
The editors of SZ Byznys gave space for comments to all interested parties. Shareholder Rosebary Capital & Investments Krsek requested questions by e-mail, but then did not respond to them.
The editors managed to obtain the statement of his key business partner Jan Fišer from Grimastar, which acted as a creditor of Fair Credit Czech. Although Grimastar transferred the claims to Rosebary Capital & Investments in the summer, it is still active in the case.
Both sides of the conflict defend their procedure by saying that their opponent tried to withdraw assets from Fair Credit Czech. And at the same time, they deny that they themselves committed any asset withdrawal.
“According to my information, the foreclosure was a defense against the siphoning of funds from the company,” said Fišer of Grimastar.
“I filed the bankruptcy petition on the recommendation of legal representatives in order to protect the company against further attacks,” responded eMedic Global owner Jaroslav Ptáček.
Who is the owner here?
Both parties claim to be the rightful owner of Fair Credit Czech. At the same time, he blames his opponent for attempts at a hostile takeover of the company.
The current situation is that Rosebary Capital & Investments, in cooperation with Jan Fišer from Grimastar, is physically inspecting the offices of Fair Credit Czech in Prague 10 on Kubánské náměstí. And with the help of special security guarding the entrance to the company’s premises.
On the other hand, eMedic Global is currently registered as the owner of Fair Credit Czech. And according to information from SZ Byznys, this is also how it communicates with the Czech National Bank, under whose supervision Fair Credit Czech falls.
Photo: List of News
Diagram of groups competing for Fair Credit Czech.
However, the situation can quickly change again. The Municipal Court in Prague issued a resolution on November 3, according to which the ownership by the company Rosebary Capital & Investments is to be re-entered in the register. And that’s because, according to the court, there are doubts about the content of the documents on the basis of which the last change of owner was registered. However, the decision is not final, it can be appealed.
“It is clear from the contents of the register file that the question of who is the sole partner of the registered person (Fair Credit Czech, editor’s note) is disputed,” reads the court order signed by senior court official Pavlína Moravcová. “In this situation, it will be necessary to carry out evidence to find out who is the sole partner of the registered person,” the resolution further states.
Various sellers
Both parties stand by the fact that their ownership claims to the ownership of the Fair Credit Czech credit company are justified. However, the source of the dispute is the fact that each of them bought a financial company from someone else.
In the case of Rosebary Capital & Investments, it was a transaction with the Brno company Ekonprofi. It was registered as the sole partner of Fair Credit Czech until October.
But businessman Jaroslav Ptáček and his company eMedic Global argue with legal documents from this spring that Fair Credit Czech was taken over by White Cluster. And this despite the fact that this change did not appear in the commercial register.
“I bought the company from the owner (the White Cluster company, editor’s note), which I verified in several stages,” said the head of eMedic Global Ptáček.
But according to his opponents from Rosebary Capital & Investments, the White Cluster company never became the real owner of Fair Credit Czech. They claim that the transaction fell through due to non-payment of the price. However, Ptáček from eMedic Global denies this.
Actors in the background
As part of the fight for Fair Credit Czech, information is also beginning to appear about the actors behind the business war.
According to the findings of the editors of SZ Byznys, it is Jan Fišer from Grimastar who works closely with Rosebary Capital & Investments. Among other things, he participated in the appointment of special security guards at the doors of Fair Credit Czech offices.
Fišer was sentenced in 2021 due to his involvement in the case related to the construction of the Ševětín photovoltaic power plant. He is currently facing indictment and trial on suspicion of another property crime. He denied guilt in all cases. In addition, Fišer is insolvent as a natural person.
According to SZ Byznys, lobbyist Tomáš Horáček is Fišer’s opponent in this case. A legal document published in the insolvency register by Rosebary Capital & Investments also pointed to his involvement.
Horáček is a key actor in the case of manipulated orders at the Bulovka University Hospital. He pleaded guilty and entered into a plea agreement with the prosecutor. So far, the editors have not been able to obtain Horáček’s statement regarding his role in the Fair Credit Czech case.
Fair Credit Czech originally belonged to the Fair Credit group controlled by businessman Martin Nejedlý. Previously, businessman Petr Stuchlík also had a stake in the company. However, he left as a shareholder in 2018, when he ran for the post of mayor of Prague for ANO.
The management of key companies from the holding has been loss-making in recent years. Nevertheless, the group continued to raise new capital from retail investors through loans, promissory notes and an investment fund.
By 2022, however, Fair Credit’s problems had come to the fore, and its bankruptcy became an imminent threat.
Around September 2022, Grimastar appeared on the scene. She came to investors from companies around Fair Credit with an offer to gradually buy out their receivables. The company represented by Fischer promised to repay these obligations within ten years.
The case of the former Fair Credit group
The editors of SZ Byznys have been following the events surrounding the former Fair Credit group for a long time. Here are the reports we’ve released on the case so far:
