Agrofert is a Czech

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** ...

holding company headquartered in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It operates

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is in ...

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of ...

and

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit informati ...

industries in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

with over 250 subsidiary companies. Most of them are owned directly by AGROFERT, a.s., the minor part of the portfolio consists of companies in which the maternal company has substantial influence. The companies of AGROFERT, a.s. operate mostly in central Europe: in the

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

. Furthermore, it operates in another 18 countries and 4 continents. In 2012 the consolidated turnover of the company reached 132.5 billion Kč. AGROFERT, a.s. is one of the biggest companies in the

. Agricultural companies of the conglomerate manage 386,1 square miles of land in the Czech Republic. (Majority of the land is rented, that means 1,26 % of Czech land or 2,84 % of Czech arable land.)

Andrej Babiš Andrej Babiš (; born 2 September 1954) is a Czech politician and businessman of Slovak descent who served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 2017 to 2021. Babis previously served as the Minister of Finance and deputy Prime Minister ...

has directed the conglomerate until January 2014 and owned it until 2017, he was forced to transfer ownership of company to two

trust fund A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right gives it to another person or entity who must keep and use it solely for another's benefit. In the Anglo-American common law, the party who entrusts the right is known as the " sett ...

s AB private trust I and AB private trust II controlled by his family and lawyers in order to comply with the new

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

legislation passed by the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. In 2017 the conglomerate employed 33 thousand people, 22 thousand of them in CR.

History

Agrofert was founded by Czech state company Petrimex (where

worked as salesman), on January 25, 1993, and in its current form on July 1, 2000. The company was founded in 1993 by Petrimex.

was its

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

until January 2014 when he became

Finance Minister of the Czech Republic The Finance Minister of the Czech Republic is the head of the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic which is concerned with financial and monetary matters. The Finance Minister is a member of Prime Minister's Cabinet and is allowed to a ...

, and also its sole owner until 2017. In November 2013, Agrofert bought Londa, which owns Rádio Impuls, Rádio Rock Zone 105.9 and Český Impuls. Speculations in January 2014 also indicated that the holding company was considering buying Prima or Nova television. In June 2022, it was announced that Borealis is to sell its fertilizers division to Agrofert for €810m.

Financials

References

External links

{{Authority control Chemical companies of the Czech Republic Privately held companies Agriculture companies established in 1993 Chemical companies established in 1993 Companies based in Prague Czech brands Andrej Babiš Agriculture companies of the Czech Republic Czech companies established in 1993