ACQUISITIONS - Foreign investors paid more than $4 billion (92.6 billion Kč) for privately owned Czech companies last year, the most since 1997, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study on mergers and acquisitions in Central and Eastern Europe. The largest acquisition was Spanish company Telefónica's buyout of fixed-line operator ťeský Telecom for $1.1 billion.

AIRPORTS - Czech financial group Penta Investments is interested in buying both airports in Kyiv, Ukraine, Hospodářské noviny reported April 10, referring to a statement by Marek Dospiva, co-owner of Penta. Penta intends to bid for the airports when the Ukrainian government launches privatization proceedings and is also pursuing other airports in the region.

NAME - Erste Bank of Austria is not considering changing the name of Czech bank ťeská spořitelna, which it owns, Erste Bank CEO Andreas Treichl recently told Hospodářské noviny. Treichl was featured in interviews in both that paper and Mladá fronta Dnes April 5. In both, he said he expects competition to push Czech bank fees lower in the near future.

ŠKODA - Czech automotive maker Škoda Auto sold 129,778 cars in the first quarter, an increase of 18.5 percent over last year, the company announced in a press release April 10. Škoda expects 2006 sales to exceed last year's record of more than 492,000 cars, the majority of which are exported to Western Europe.

GROWTH - Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek said April 9 that the Czech economy could exceed last year's 6 percent growth. The economy is experiencing a boom period that many economic analysts believe will last for several years, thanks largely to soaring exports. The automotive industry is the largest contributor to the Czech export economy.

INFLATION - Inflation fell in March, partly because of concerns about bird flu, which lowered prices for poultry, analysts said in reaction to data released by the Czech Statistical Office April 10. Year-on-year inflation remained low at 2.8 percent last month, falling slightly, by 0.1 percent, from February.

MORTGAGE - Hypoteční banka and Lexxus real estate agency, in which Hypoteční banka is part owner, will soon launch a new service to help people with mortgages get more money for larger homes, Hospodářské noviny reported April 7. ťeská spořitelna, one of the country's largest banks, has plans to offer a similar service.