May: The year in business

MAY

The financial and energy group China Energy Company (CEFC) based in Shanghai acquired a 5-percent share in one of the biggest Czech-Slovak financial groups, J&T – for about €78.95 million. The only two shareholders until now, Jozef Tkáč and Ivan Jakabovič, have kept 47.5 percent of shares each. The CEFC shall allegedly gradually acquire a 30-percent share in J&T, worth about €700 million.

ST minority share sold. Slovakia sold its minority stake of 49 percent in the telecommunications company Slovak Telekom (ST) for €900 million to the German telecom operator Deutsche Telekom after Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government scrapped its plan to sell the shares in ST on the stock exchange, arguing it would gain a bigger profit this way.

The carmaker Volkswagen Slovakia launched operations in its new body shop after this biggest one-off investment in the 24-year history of Volkswagen Slovakia cost €600 million. The body shop employing 966 robots and more than 1,000 highly qualified workers produces bodies for a new model of the Audi Q7.

Second package of social measures introduced. The Robert Fico cabinet unveiled its second package of social measures. The package with a price tag of €200 million includes reduction of VAT to 10 percent on selected foodstuffs, a system of assistance and support for poor regions with high unemployment and an increase in the minimum wage. Other measures are focused on energy efficiency and families with children. The measures should be gradually launched by the parliamentary elections scheduled for spring 2016.

The eastern Slovak city of Košice has a regular air connection to Kiev beginning in mid-May operated by Czech Air (ČSA).