Pavel Tykac, owner of Sev.en Energy Group, poses for a photo at the company's headquarters after an interview with Reuters in Prague, Czech Republic, May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jan Lopatka/File Photo
PRAGUE (Reuters) -Czech billionaire Pavel Tykac will buy top-flight domestic soccer club Slavia Prague from Chinese investment group CITIC, he and the team said on Thursday.
Tykac, owner of the Sev.en energy and investment group that have been expanding globally in recent years, said he had signed an agreement with CITIC to buy one of the country's biggest clubs along with the Eden stadium it plays in.
Settlement was expected in the first quarter of 2024.
"I am among loyal Slavia fans, like my father and grandfather. It is a big honour for me to share in Slavia's further development," Tykac said in a statement.
CITIC has owned Slavia Prague for the past five years, during which the club won three league titles and made three quarter-final appearances in European competitions.
Slavia Prague's chairman Jaroslav Tvrdik said Tykac's entry to the 131-year-old club, which has won 21 league titles in its existence, would bring further benefits.
"Pavel Tykac is an experienced Czech businessman, investor and life-long Slavia fan," he said. "We welcome (him)."
Tykac, valued by Forbes at $8 billion, is an energy investor who has shifted his coal mining and power production acquisition focus abroad, mainly to the United States and Australia as coal asset prices drop amid a global trend to phase them out.
His Sev.en Global Investments last month said it would buy a majority stake in a large coal-fired plant in Vietnam from U.S. energy firm AES Corp.
Financial details of the Slavia Prague deal were not disclosed.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka, writing by Jason Hovet; editing by Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan)
