Billionaire Who Bought Macy’s Stake Bets on Foot Locker
- Kretinsky’s Vesa said it owns 6.3 million Foot Locker shares
- Kretinsky disclosed a 5% stake in Macy’s chain last week
Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire who invested in Macy’s Inc. earlier this month, disclosed that he also bought shares in another beaten-down U.S. retailer: Foot Locker Inc.
Kretinsky’s Vesa Equity Investment acquired 6% of the company’s common shares, according to a U.S. regulatory filing. His stake in the New York-based sneaker store chain has a current market value of about $169 million.
Kretinsky, 44, has been scooping up shares of troubled retailers, investing last year in France’s Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA after a $6.5 billion takeover offer for Germany’s Metro AG was rebuffed. A former private-equity lawyer, Kretinsky now owns Energeticky a Prumyslovy Holding AS, one of the largest power companies in central Europe, as well as the Sparta Prague soccer team.