Nearly 8,000 investors and 17 billion Czech crowns are the key results for the first 12 months of the investment group Penta, which has been open to external investors for more than a year ago now.

‘We have changed in terms of responsibility. We used to have the comfort that, when we did something amiss, we knew we’d be the only ones to face the consequences. ‘Now, we have thousands of investors behind us, and this leads us to consider every decision in the investment committee more carefully and cautiously‘, says Marek Dospiva.

He points out that it is only thanks to external investors that the group can seek additional investment opportunities that it would not be able to finance on its own. That is why it could also announce its entry into the tender for the largest Italian pharmacy operator, strengthening the healthcare division and Fortuna’s expansion into Asia.

16% real estate appreciation

The fund’s plans continue to broaden. ‘We aim to think big. We currently manage almost CZK 40 billion in Penta funds (including the owners’ money – editor’s note). ‘Looking at the next twelve months, we aim to manage CZK 50 billion – with half of that sum preferably coming from external investors’, adds Tomáš Hochmeister. The ROI for the first ten months was 12 per cent for the Penta Equity Fund and 16 per cent for the Penta Real Estate Fund, which benefitted from record development activity.

Hochmeister was not involved in the creation of the funds at Penta, having joined the team at year-end 2025. Now, another fund will be set up. Penta will repeat the successful project by establishing a third fund.

‘We currently have investors primarily from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. One of our goals is for the funds to accompany the Penta group in the coming years, even in markets where we operate, so we’d like to widen our horizon abroad. We currently have two Czech funds for qualified investors, and our next fund will be Luxembourgish. This is a fund that offers investors rather more protection than Czech qualified investor funds; it enables us to offer the product not only in the Czech Republic but also more easily abroad‘, adds Hochmeister.

He further observes that the Luxembourg domicile will allow products to be easily offered abroad and distributed among investors.

Penta plans to launch the fund in the autumn, with a focus on healthcare and healthcare real estate. ‘The Penta group’s activity is creating numerous opportunities that we would like to offer to external investors. We have a unique portfolio of healthcare properties, including hospitals, polyclinics and Alzheimer centres. This is a stable portfolio that enables long-term growth. It is something that could appeal to both individuals and institutional investors‘, adds Hochmeister.

Investment committee’s decision-making process is unchanged

Decision-making regarding where the funds invest is still performed by Penta and Penta Real Estate. ‘The decisions are made by the partners I represent: Slavo Haščák, Ian Child and three other partners.‘ This same group of six members decides where the investors’ fund investments are directed. This is just like the prior process, when it was only our investments. We make decisions with the help of a six-member investment committee, with majority voting being necessary. Regardless of an individual’s share, an investment proposal isn’t green lighted without the prerequisite four votes‘, adds Dospiva.

He rejects the idea that the funds would be a form of monetisation of Penta’s achievements. ‘After most of the partners turned fifty years of age, we realised that our time is not unlimited – so this is a very advantageous collaboration. When we see investment opportunities today, we know that sharing them helps us grow and increase stakes in specific countries with specific companies, thereby achieving higher margins or a safer position in case of a crisis‘, adds Dospiva.

Hochmeister observed that Penta recently obtained a licence from the Czech National Bank, enabling the creation of a new investment company that opens up further new opportunities in asset management. ‘We’ll continue to focus on where Penta is strong as well as where we have some consistency and long-term history,‘ he adds.

IPO can wait

Stock market entry via an IPO – which other leading Czech companies such as Allwyn and CSG have recently taken – does not appeal to Penta.

‘The fund structure suits us at this time. Penta is a very active owner rather than a passive investor – when we manage portfolio companies very actively, the fund structure is more efficient and less demanding in terms of regulation. That doesn’t mean that we consider an IPO bad, but at this stage of development, we’re restructuring companies, and there is strong growth. Companies that go public should mostly be stable and very predictable‘, adds Dospiva.

Penta has already tried the stock exchange path via Fortuna. Yet, in 2018, it withdrew shares from the Prague Stock Exchange and Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Interview with Marek Dospiva and Tomáš Hochmeister conducted by Zuzana Hodková. The audio and video version is available here: https://www.seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/ekonomika-byznys-rozhovory-dospiva-penta-spusti-dalsi-fond-z-lucemburska-a-zamereny-na-zdravotnictvi-304755