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July 6th, 2008
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MORTGAGES One the country’s largest banks, Česká spořitelna (ČS), will be tightening its conditions for approving mortgage loans, Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) reported Jan. 29. Pavel Kühn, deputy director of the bank’s mortgage division, said ČS was most concerned about loans that covered more than 80 percent of a home’s value.

TESLA The consumer electronics manufacturer Tesla will see major updates to its technology over the next three years, incoming CEO Martin Stachník said in an interview with MfD published Jan. 29. The Czech-Irish financial group Kilcullen Kapital Partners bought Tesla in December.
RENEWABLES The share of renewable sources used to generate electricity fell to 4.7 percent last year from 4.9 percent in 2006, Hospodářské noviny (HN)  reported Jan. 28. According to recently proposed standards from the European Union, the Czech Republic will have to raise this share to 13 percent by 2020.
BEER The state’s application to register the term České pivo (Czech beer) as a protected geographical designation is moving forward, the news server Aktualne.cz reported Jan. 25. For the first time, the application appeared in the official journal of the EU, meaning it fulfills all the requirements mandated for approval. The proposal can now only be halted by a third-party complaint.
ŠKODA State authorities have found that Poles working in Škoda Auto’s factories are treated far worse than their Czech colleagues, MfD reported Jan. 25. Zetka Auto, which hired the Polish workers for Škoda, faces fines for its failure to give temporary workers the same wage and work conditions as their permanent colleagues.
ATLAS The new owner of Centrum.cz is negotiating to purchase Atlas.cz from its current owner, Epic Holding, the daily E15 reported Jan. 25. The U.S.-owned private equity group Warburg Pincus acquired Centrum near the end of last year for an undisclosed sum. The much-rumored acquisition would give Warburg control of the country’s second and third largest search engines.
HOT WATER Spas saw their profits drop to 4.4 percent of revenues in 2006, from 9 percent in 2004, HN reported Jan. 25. One spa said it was expecting its electricity costs alone to rise 13 percent this year. Hardest hit have been spas tailored to domestic clients, rather than spas favored by Germans or Russians.
MOL Energy giant ČEZ has finalized its deal to purchase 7 percent of MOL, the Hungarian oil and gas company. In the deal, announced Jan. 23, MOL sold 7.68 million shares to ČEZ at 30,000 forints ($171/3,000 Kč) each, which should help the Hungarian company fend off a hostile takeover attempt by Austria’s OMV. ČEZ and MOL have announced plans to collaborate on future power plant construction.


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