Uherské Hradiště - It is the story every entrepreneur is dreaming of.
Former majority owner of the largest domestic cannery Hamé, Leoš Novotný has managed to build up a giant company and now he is selling it to Iceland-based Nordic Partners.
All Czechs know the products of the company he had been building since 1991. Ketchups, snacks for children, the famous pate Májka, recently also baguettes. The name of Leoš Novotný who with his two co-owners built up Hamé is however not known so widely.
The man, one of the one hundred Czech and Moravian billionaires, is stubborn, dogged, self-confident, has a huge intuition and a good view of his branch.
And he is also accordingly proud of his achievement. "When we started, our revenue was CZK 160 million. Last year it was nearly CZK 5 billion. We control 60 % of the domestic market, we are in the first league," Novotný says.
Imposing pate on the Russians
Many, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, had the chance to learn that he is a man who fulfils his visions.
"I told him [Putin] I would teach the Russians to eat pates," he says describing his meeting with the Russian President at Prague Castle.
His prophecy is being realized, the Russians are buying more and more Hamé products. This success at the huge market and in other Eastern European countries was among the reasons why 44 companies bid for Hamé.
Here is another proof of Novotný's successful step. "Pate boys" - that was the nickname Zlín ice hockey players got after Novotný bought the extra-league hockey team, Zlín. Just the fact that the Hamé sign, the red bear, was placed in the club logo made a lot of fuss.
Buying the ice hockey club was a marketing step in the first place that helped Novotný promote Hamé even more. But the company left the club as soon as Novotný felt the company no longer profited from it.
Well-thought through marketing strategy is something Novotný knows is important. Hamé features a famous Czech actor Bolek Polívka in the commercial promoting of the company and in exchange, Hamé sponsors Polívka´s projects.
Wiping out competition
Novotný's rivals cannot forgive him his aggressive elimination of his domestic competitors. When Hamé was established in 1992 based on the privatised state-owned Biofruct Babice, it was one of 40 canneries in the Czech Republic.
There are now about a dozen companies like Hamé only. And the valuable ones were bought by Hamé. Znojmia, Otma or Veselá pastýřka ended up in Novotný's hands, Hamé has a total of six factories.
For instance, the takeover of Znojmia famous for the production of Znojmo cucumbers was quite dramatic and dealt with by courts. He fought similarly furiously for the brands his company resurrected, e.g. Májka. He also had conflicts with his multinational competitors like Nestlé.
"Other factories went down because their owners only wanted to have the first ten millions in their pocket. Others were destroyed by conflicts among their owners," Novotný said in one interview.
Novotný does not want to leave Hamé entirely even after selling it, he stays there as a a minority owner. "I will devote ten to fifteen percent of my time to the company, I want to help especially with strategic decision making," he says.
It is noticeable that he already has other plans in his head. At the moment he is only saying he is going to collaborate with his son. "These will be regional projects," says Novotný, a passionate huntsman owning or leasing several hunting grounds.
It is not clear whether Novotný's collection of hunting arm is going to stay in the main Hamé conference room in Kunovice. Leo Gunnarsson, Nordic Partners GM and the head of the new owner of Hamé, does not share Novotný's passion. "I have never killed any animal," he said at the press conference.
