Anti-monopoly watchdog approves Mafra acquisition

The Czech anti-monopoly agency on Monday approved the acquisition of the Mafra publishing house by Agrofert, a group owned by multi-billionaire and aspiring politician Andrej Babiše. Mafra prints two of the country’s biggest daily newspapers, Mladá fronta Dnes and Lidové noviny, and runs several popular news websites including idnes.cz. Agrofert purchased the publishing firm from the German company Rheinisch-Bergische Verlagsgesellschaft in June; the financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Mr Babiš’s political party, ANO, will run in October’s early election; however, an Agrofert spokesman had earlier said Mr Babiš would not interfere with the newspapers’ editorial policies.

Author: Jan Richter