Penta Investments

Penta is a Central Europe investment group founded in 1994 in Slovakia by Czech Marek Dospiva and Slovaks Jaroslav Haščák, Juraj Herko, Martin Kúšik and Jozef Oravkin.

Today, the group actively develops companies and projects, primarily in healthcare, financial services, retail, manufacturing, real estate and media. Having grown from a local to international company, Penta operates in more than ten markets across Europe, providing more than 37,000 jobs through investee companies. In financial year 2015, Penta achieved a consolidated net profit of EUR 200 mln and increased total portfolio assets to EUR 7 bln.

The name Penta is a tribute to the original five founding partners, all schoolmates during their studies in Moscow and Czechoslovakia.

Penta Investments group and its co-owner Jaroslav Haščák have been associated with the Gorilla scandal, a corruption affair that erupted in Slovakia in 2012. The company has been denying the allegations and interpreted the "Gorilla" file as fabricated. In 2012, the Constitutional Court ruled that wiretapping of Slovak secret service was unlawful.

Penta's initial capital originated mostly from the business that the two founding members, Marek Dospiva and Jaroslav Haščák, conducted in China. In 1990, during their studies in Beijing, they founded a small textile importing company consisting only of two accountants and one secretary and began importing Chinese textiles to chain stores in Czechoslovakia. At the end of 1993, Marek Dospiva, Jaroslav Haščák and Jozef Oravkin teamed up with Martin Kúšik and Juraj Herko and founded company Penta Brokers.

In 1996, when the company's net asset value was approximately 50 million Slovak crowns, Penta gained control over VÚB Kupón – the largest investment fund in Slovakia, with an asset value of 9 billion Slovak crowns. Penta convinced the British Regents Fund to purchase a control block of stock of VÚB Kupón. During the transaction, VÚB, the founding bank of the fund, started to resist. The British Regents Fund decided to pull out of the transaction. At this key moment, Penta succeeded in convincing VÚB to sell its share and finance the purchase of stocks bought by the British fund. Penta gained control over VÚB Kupón for a stock price of only 20 percent of its real market value. VÚB Kupón's acquisition opened the way for Penta to earn its first billion.

In 1999, Penta was restructured into a holding with its mother company in Cyprus. In the four years that followed, it realised several restructurings and investment transactions in Slovakia. These included VSŽ, Slovenská poisťovňa, Slovnaft, Elektrovod, Drôtovňa Hlohovec and Sanitas. In 2002, Juraj Herko left and Jozef Špirko joined as the fifth partner. The same year Penta's net asset value reached 2 billion Slovak crowns.

In 2001, Penta entered the Czech market with the development of its Dr. Max chain of pharmacies, the acquisition and development of Aero Vodochody and the acquisition of SmVaK (North-Moravian sanitation Ostrava). In 2005, Penta has changed its structure to that of a standard private equity company and in the same year started investing also into real estate and expanding into other foreign markets beyond Slovakia and Czech Republic, primarily into Poland through the acquisition of Żabka, the country's largest independent food retail chain with more than 2000 stores, which was completed in the summer of 2007. In 2008 Penta made a major investment into the Hungarian meat industry.