Coal magnate Bakala buys group behind leading business publications

The Economia group, which publishes the financial daily Hospodářské noviny and the weekly Ekonom, has been bought by one of the Czech Republic’s wealthiest businessmen, Zdeněk Bakala. The German company Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt had been looking for a buyer for its majority stake in Economia for several months. Mr Bakala, who owns mining giant OKD, is reported to have set up a new firm 100-percent owned by him to buy the group, which is behind a number of financial and trade publications. His spokesman refused to comment on the matter. Zdeněk Bakala also owns the liberal intellectual weekly Respekt.