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. EMMA Capital then formed a joint venture with global gaming leader Entain in 2022, and it transferred SuperSport into this joint venture. Following a further acquisition, of Poland’s largest betting company STS, EMMA holds a 22.5% stake in the joint venture, called Entain CEE.

Over time, the Romanian energy company GAZ SUD became another of EMMA Group’s major investments. Since becoming its majority owner in 2013, EMMA Capital oversaw significant growth, both organic and through further acquisitions. From 2014, the company started operating under the name Premier Energy Group; in 2019, it expanded to include majority stakes in key Moldovan energy companies involved in the distribution and sale of electricity. In recent years, Premier Energy Group has devoted substantial attention to the production and distribution of electricity from renewable sources. In this field, it has become one of the fastest-growing companies on the Romanian market.

From the end of the previous decade to today, EMMA Capital Group’s portfolio has gradually expanded to include companies in the e-commerce sector, as well as companies through which the Group is evaluating the possibility of investing into new fields. These include, for example, the distribution of pharmaceuticals, an assisted reproduction clinic and a network of marinas in the Mediterranean.

Jiří Šmejc - originally the sole shareholder of the EMMA Group – over time offered minority stakes in the management company EMMA Capital to his key associates. Thus, EMMA now has seven partners: its majority owner Jiří Šmejc, along with Pavel Horák, Tomáš Kočka, Ondřej Frydrych, Michal Houšt, Petr Stohr, José Garza and Marek Doseděl.

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.