Feature-length Interview with Pavel Hubáček in Forbes Magazine

The white and blue Gulfstream G500 tears off the ground and climbs into the sky. Smoothly, silently and without turbulence, it breaks through the ceiling of clouds. Just as naturally, and in moderation, like its owner – a man who might soon become the next Czech among the world's richest people.

This man is knocking on the door to the world’s wealthiest club. He has four children, owns Banka CREDITAS, Grandhotel Pupp, energy companies, a villa once belonging to Alfons Mucha, paintings by Kupka and Mondrian, a vineyard in Bordeaux, and a private Gulfstream G500 jet with the call sign OK-HUB. He also likes the word ‘moderate.’ It’s a word that aptly describes him. Just like his innocent response to the question of how it came to be that this man from Olomouc is making billions: “Well, sorry, I’ve been working for about 30 years – I think just about anyone could make a billion in that time, right?” And, mind you, we’re talking about billions of dollars, not crowns.

Pavel Hubáček is one of the most reserved and most unassuming Czech billionaires. This is the story of a man who, through the classic '90s model of “buy in the West, sell at home,” built his business empire on loans and debt trading, and now makes deals with the most successful of his compatriots.

He employs over a thousand people and manages the accounts of a quarter of a million citizens in this country. He’s a businessman who loves his massive Excel spreadsheet but has no desire to impress anyone. A businessman who started on ice – and quite literally, this interview also began on ice. It seemed it might not happen, but David Kämpf managed to reach the puck in time and, almost from the goal line, increased the lead to 2:0. An electrifying atmosphere, hard to describe in words, engulfed the sold-out O2 Arena. Nineteen seconds before the end, it was all over. After 14 years, the Czechs were again world champions in hockey. Everyone around, including the authors of this article, lost their voices. More than seventeen thousand people were on their feet.

Pavel Hubáček was also standing in his skybox, and in response to Kämpf’s goal, he took his hands out of his back pockets and clapped – just once, but firmly. No other gesture could capture someone’s character better. Perhaps that’s why you might now be wondering – who is Pavel Hubáček, and where did he come from?

Where did it all begin?
With hockey. I started playing hockey when I was five, training twice a day. I played all the way through to the juniors. Hockey teaches you discipline, hard work, teamwork… All things that come in handy in business.

Were you happy?
Sure, it was a great team. We had so much fun. It’s incomparable to individual sports. I even went to a hockey school – a very interesting experience.

And then?
As we got older, we started traveling abroad, where we could buy things that were unavailable here under the communists. For example, I bought videos for five thousand crowns and sold them here for twenty thousand.

That’s really how prosaic your beginning was?
Absolutely. And when your father is earning two to three thousand a month, and you make fifteen thousand on a single video, I think it defines you for the future. You realize you don’t want to work for someone else; you want to be on your own.

Did your parents approve? Many people looked down on the buy-sell model, maybe even today…
My parents didn’t even know. (laughs)

So the first money came while the communists were still in power. And what happened afterward?
Afterward, it was simple. (laughs) After the revolution, there was a huge hunger, and the doors were open. So I did the same as before, just on a larger scale – mainly consumer goods. From kitchenware to bicycles. So that was a simple start…

How much were you earning?
Sometimes a million a week.

Seriously?
Of course. If you had goods, anything was possible. One of my first big deals, where I earned a million crowns, was with Christmas collections. We bought several truckloads of Christmas collections and sold them to trade unionists, who gave them to their employees.

When did you realize that this wasn’t enough, that you wanted something else?
When you’ve made money, and don’t know where to invest it, someone comes to you with a debt secured by real estate, and you can make money on it. So I learned the debt business, choosing debts backed by real estate. Then I started buying portfolios from banks, and so on. The roots of my bigger business come from debts.

Did you enjoy trading in debts?
It was good business. Whether it was morally good or bad, I didn’t think about it. It was simply good business. And most of the time, the banks were the ones losing out. They were just writing things off when they needed to clean up before selling to big investors.

What was the next big leap?
The next serious business was lending money. I founded Smart Capital, which was something like today’s Home Credit. At its peak, we had a hundred thousand clients and were making hundreds of millions a year in net profit.

Did that come from your trading in consumer goods?
That was a hint that maybe we should be doing it.

You didn’t need a banking license for that, did you?
No, that was just on a trade license. (laughs)

How long did it last?
I sold the company in 2012 after about ten years for eight hundred million crowns. The management bought it, and later sold part of the loan business to Natland.

And this led you to a credit union?
Yes, I bought a stake in První třebíčská záložna, which I gradually took over. Eventually, it grew so big that we had no choice but to either shut it down or transform it into a bank.

Which is today’s Banka CREDITAS?
Exactly, the same company registration number. That’s 28 years of history.

Was it difficult to get the license?
Extremely. It took years of work. With a bank, it’s quite hard to convince the Czech National Bank about your capital. You must prove the capital you have in the bank and then demonstrate additional capital you might need if there’s a problem – essentially for future growth. Everything must, of course, be taxed and proven, and you can't borrow it – it has to be your own money.

So suddenly you became a banker. Is that something you could have imagined before?
I’m a bank owner. I wouldn’t say I’m exactly a banker. (laughs) But no, I never imagined it. I didn’t paint that future for myself. Today, you see that a bank’s basic capital must be around three billion crowns – that’s incredibly difficult. It was more than I could imagine.

But earlier, we were talking about bringing in a few videos, and now you’re a bank owner…
Well, it’s been 30 years. Over 30 years, you can do a lot of work if you have the drive.

How does one go from banking to energy?
I realize I might disappoint you, but it’s really – at least in my case – quite simple. One day, a banker friend came to me and said he had a contact who owned some distribution networks and needed to borrow twenty million. And before long, we invested the first twenty million, then we had a joint venture with E.ON, and gradually a whole energy branch developed. What I want to say is – I never understood energy before; I got into it by chance.

And today you are on the verge of securing a place on ladder of the world’s richest people with a billion dollars in assets… That’s quite a leap, isn’t it?
Making the first billion is hard – for me, it took 20 years of work. But once you’re at these volumes, making another billion or two isn’t that difficult. Compound interest plays in your favor, as well as the fact that you can simply make bigger transactions, pursue bigger opportunities.

What drives you in business?
It used to be the hunger for capital. Now, I just enjoy it. I enjoy watching us grow, and seeing our clients grow with us, whether we’re financing them or they’re investing with us. We share our returns with them.

Are you proud of the group you’ve built?
CREDITAS Group has had some very successful years full of interesting acquisitions. I’m really happy about that. Over the past two years, we’ve achieved profits of around 8.5 billion crowns. Last year alone, it was nearly 3.5 billion. We’ve made some very interesting acquisitions in banking and energy – whether it’s Max Banka, the British InterGen, or the acquisition of GGE, an energy company in Slovakia. I see great potential in our projects for the future, and I would like us to maximize it. I think that in the coming years, we could achieve a regular profit of five to six billion a year, and the CREDITAS Group could even double in size. In three years, I’d like to double the value of CREDITAS Group, including my private investments, from twenty-five to fifty billion crowns.

Do milestones interest you? The first billion crowns, the first billion dollars, two, ten billion dollars?
I don’t set those kinds of milestones anymore. I think a billion dollars is enough. (laughs) Now I’m more focused on what’s next. How to involve my children, how to involve the family, how to gradually pass it on…

Have you figured it out?
Not yet, but I must say that these thoughts were accelerated by the tragic death of Petr Kellner.

Is there a real succession plan in place, or will you simply establish a family office, and let the money work for itself?
My oldest son has his own business, so he’s not involved in the family business. My second son graduated from the University of Economics in Prague, serves on supervisory boards, and while he works in some of our funds, he doesn’t yet have the ambition to take over the business. And the girls are still young. Although the youngest recently sat down in my office in Olomouc and said, “I will be the director here one day!” (laughs)

Would it bother you if your children didn’t want to take over the business?
There’s nothing you can do about that. It’s hard to influence. So, I don’t think about it that way.

Do you think about your legacy?
There are a few things I’d like to see through to the end, so that something remains after me. If money stays in an account, nobody cares much, but a good property can remain for decades, even centuries. Or this hotel, for instance. (He gestures around the Pupp Hotel.) It might not stay directly after me, but perhaps within the family office. In Olomouc, for example, we’re planning a sports academy for young talents.

So, you’re thinking of leaving something tangible behind?
Not just tangible. For instance, the foundation for athletes that we’re starting now. I’d like to put about a billion in assets into it, and it will be financed from the returns. Because if you give away a hundred million in the usual way, you distribute it, and it’s gone. I’d like this to run like a perpetual motion machine for many years. In sports, it’s important to have regular funding, so that teams know they will receive the money every year.

What exactly will it be used for?
A sports academy with two ice rinks, a school, training facilities, a hall for ball games… By the way, we were inspired by a similar academy Red Bull has in Salzburg.

That sounds like giving back to hockey…
I’d like to give something back to hockey because I took a lot from it.

On a regular basis, a twin-engine Bell 472 helicopter lands at Karlovy Vary airport. Yes, you guessed it, it belongs to the man we’re interviewing. Pavel Hubáček can combine the pleasant with the profitable here in Vary. After all, who wouldn’t want to relax in perhaps the most famous Czech hotel, which has carried the name Grandhotel Pupp for three hundred years? For the past seven years, this iconic hotel, regularly eyed by various investors, has belonged to Hubáček. And so, it’s no surprise that in the hall of the Pupp, this relatively inconspicuous man, who speaks thoughtfully, softly, and dresses modestly, has his favorite chair where he regularly sits. This trophy investment must make him happy – the hotel is booked throughout the year with an occupancy rate of over 80%, and its director, Jindřich Krausz, is constantly improving it and reinvesting the profits.

 “Mr. Krausz makes me happy,” says Pavel Hubáček dryly, as he lists further plans he has in Vary – and not just at Pupp. He will operate another hotel, Opera, and is vying to buy the loss-making Alžbětiny Lázně, which he’s competing for against the global hotel chain Hilton. Pupp isn’t the only prominent property for which Pavel Hubáček, metaphorically speaking, holds all the keys. In Prague, he is finishing a building with luxury rental apartments on the riverside, and this building holds a woeful Czech bureaucratic record – it took 25 years to get a building permit. Wearing a yellow construction helmet, Pavel Hubáček shows off a model apartment. “All the apartments are for rent; the price per square meter will be around one thousand crowns,” he says.

 Perhaps the biggest one, upstairs, with a view of the river, Letná, and Malá Strana, will someday be his own residence. The Olomouc native, now a Prague resident, won’t have an easy decision. After years of demanding reconstruction, another famous place opens its doors to him: the Villa of Alfons Mucha, where Mucha had his studio, and where, just like the new owner, he could rest, shielded from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

You own significant and valuable properties that you’re developing – Pupp, Alfons Mucha’s villa…
Well, that villa is Alfons Mucha’s work, not mine. I’m just giving it a new life in a new century. It’s a beautiful property, and the heritage authorities have been very strict, and we’ve been carefully renovating it for several years. One option is that we’ll live there, but I’m not sure yet. We’ll see.

Another prestigious address you own is the new building on U Milosrdných street, which is nearing completion…
That building has been in the works for an incredible 25 years. Architect Fránek originally designed the famous “marshmallow” for it. By the way, it was a great design, but it didn’t get approved. We’re thinking of building it somewhere else. But what will stand on Milosrdných Street is also an exceptional and beautiful project. These will be rental apartments, with a six-hundred-square-meter apartment on the top floor, probably the largest in this location in Prague. The rent will be about 780,000 crowns a month. There will be two floors of garages at the bottom, and a terrace on top.

This brings us back to your legacy and what you want to leave behind. Are these properties part of that?
Yes, they will be part of the legacy. But! I’m not underlining anything or dividing it up yet, gentlemen!

What has brought you the most joy lately?
Well, for example, this building – it’s a beautiful project, incredibly complex. Mr. Krausz at Pupp is a joy to work with. He’s very talented, and thanks to him, I don’t have to worry about this property at all – on the contrary. Every year, when I come here, it’s better and better. I think it’s the best hotel in the Czech Republic. Across from us is the former house of Mrs. Pupp, Quisisana, and we plan to purchase and develop the four-star Opera hotel nearby, next to the theater.

Let’s ask the same question again. What truly brings you joy that you show outwardly? Yesterday we were at the hockey game together, the Czech team won the World Championship final after 14 years, and yet, as a former hockey player, you reacted rather modestly…
I was just watching how the boys played hockey. And then we won. That’s just how I am, no big outward emotions. Today, I bought a beautiful watch that I had been waiting for, but again, no big celebration. But trust me, I really enjoy it. I enjoy it on the inside.

And finally, what in life gives you joy?
A good business deal. For example, we recently had a zoning plan approved in Letňany, which will allow us to build 1,250 apartments. And we’re back to hockey again. This project has been in the works for an incredible seven years, and the zoning change was scheduled for a vote on Thursday, when the hockey semifinals were played. And imagine, they approved the changes without discussion, in one minute, at 9:25 p.m. Everyone wanted to watch the hockey. So, in one minute, thanks to those changes, we increased the value of the project, which we’d been working on for seven years, by two billion.

So let’s move away from joy and back to business. Development is the third leg of your business. How important is it?
It’s important, but there aren’t particularly big profits in it.

But real estate prices in Prague rise by more than ten percent every year.
That’s true, but everything takes so long – projects take years to prepare, and it gets diluted over time.

How do you see the Czech Republic in 2024?
Everything is complicated here. Looking at our businesses, there’s no clear energy policy. Real estate development projects take ages to approve, as we’ve discussed. It’s very difficult to do business here.

It can’t be that hard if your business is worth nearly a billion dollars…
But that’s over thirty years – anyone had to have made a billion in that time, right? (laughs)

Well, maybe we did something wrong somewhere… What would you like to change in the Czech Republic, what frustrates you?
I’ve come to terms with a lot of things. For instance, building permits can take 25 years, as you’ve seen. That’s a crazy record. And ten years is normal. Well, it’s not normal, but here it is.

Will it change with the new building law?
It will. It’ll get worse, I think. That has consequences. There aren’t enough apartments, prices are rising, and many people can’t afford them.

Do you talk with other businessmen about what could be done, how such policies could be changed?
I don’t have such ambitions. It’s up to the politicians, but with our unfortunate electoral system, we always end up with a patchwork of coalitions in government, which means compromises and slow progress.

Do you have ambitions to change the electoral system?
No, I really don’t. But it’s badly set up. Because of the coalition system, everyone constantly needs to draw attention to themselves, often with some crazy idea. Like taxing investment rental properties, for example. Imagine you have hundreds of rental apartments, and some idea from the Pirate Party wants to drastically reduce their value. That makes business less fun.

As we’ve mentioned a few times, Pavel Hubáček isn’t a man of grand gestures, bold proclamations, or  emotional displays. Even in his office, with its onyx wall reminiscent of the Villa Tugendhat, he speaks modestly, smiling under his gray beard in a moderate way and acknowledging that this word – moderate – describes him fairly well. “Yes, you could say that,” he admits dryly. For just a moment, his movements quicken, and if we had his biometric data, it might show a slight increase in his pulse. That’s when Pavel Hubáček walks behind the onyx wall and brings out the treasure from his desk, the holy grail of the CREDITAS Group. An enormous, multicolored Excel spreadsheet. “Here it is,” he says triumphantly, spreading it out on the meeting table. In this spreadsheet, he plans and maps out the future – both for himself and for his company, CREDITAS. The company that employs a thousand people, has 260,000 clients, owns the fourth-largest electricity distributor in the Czech Republic, is expanding into Slovakia and Poland, and is currently negotiating the purchase of a bank in Western Europe. The company that, for instance, plays a significant role in the return of the MotoGP World Championship motorcycle races to the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic.

To what extent is the current image of CREDITAS your image, and to what extent is it the work of the managers?
I’m building the CREDITAS Group together with key managers, and it’s our joint effort. The managers help me realize my visions. But if you’re asking who has the final say, it’s me.

You’re the sole shareholder of the group. Will it stay that way?
One always considers various models and scenarios. But I believe that the number of owners of a company should be odd, and three is already too many. (laughs) A company with one shareholder has undeniable advantages. The main one is a very fast decision-making process.

What does it look like when there’s a disagreement with the management?
We rarely have disagreements. After years of working together, I know the senior management very well. It’s more about deciding between two options, each with its pros and cons, and they recommend one. But at the end of the day, I have to make the decision. And of course, when it comes to strategic decisions, there’s no democracy.

What are your business ambitions?
I’ve achieved what I wanted. Now I want to continue developing the business we have. For example, the bank needs a certain size to support its further growth, with all the mandatory expenses that come with it. We currently have a balance sheet total of two hundred billion, but ideally, we should have four hundred to four hundred and fifty. That means adding another ten billion in equity and reaching, for instance, the size of Moneta.

Do you want CREDITAS to grow to that size? Do you pay attention to its ranking among banks in the Czech Republic?
It’s about the willingness to strengthen the capital. I have ten billion in the bank, eight billion in energy, and the rest in development and other private investments. I’d have to transfer funds from those areas to the bank. That’s how I think about it.

What is your biggest private investment?
Right now, for example, we have a large investment in the Max Real Estate fund by Richard Morávek. It’s a very interesting investment. Currently, the fund holds assets worth over ten billion crowns, including shopping malls. I’m investing money from our family office into it, and we also offer it to our clients.

And personal investments? Like the plane?
Yes, that’s a very good investment, although our CFO might see it differently. But you can’t really look at it strictly as an investment. The most challenging part isn’t actually the purchase, which was over a billion crowns, but rather the annual costs, which are one hundred and twenty million crowns. But it helps me with work – we fly a lot for upcoming acquisitions, so I have to justify it somehow.

We’re coming back full circle to joy in life. That can also come from possessions, art, or watches… You own both, so what interests you about them?
What’s really interesting is the waiting and anticipation for these things. You wait a year and a half for a plane, more than a year for watches… But I’m good at waiting. With age comes patience.

And the painting by František Kupka – was that an investment or a passion?
I’m not a collector, but I really liked this painting. That’s how I buy art. We bought it directly in France. It’s in my office in Olomouc. I also own the iconic painting La Maja Desnuda by Theodor Pištěk. We met Pištěk here in Vary, at Pupp. So, my purchases always come with some kind of story – that’s the kind of collector I am.

What do you read, who do you follow, and how do you keep yourself mentally “sharp”?
My daughters keep me mentally “sharp.” You have to be very quick-witted and clever to answer some of their questions. Otherwise, I read quite a lot – mainly economic news and analyses. As for keeping physically fit, I have a simple recipe: sport, healthy eating, and plenty of rest. I’ve given up sweets and try to avoid alcohol, though I’m not always successful. Occasionally, I indulge in a good red wine or a cigar. I don’t have or follow any social media, which helps a lot with peace of mind.

If you could keep just one of your business projects, which one would it be?
I have only one business project, and that’s CREDITAS Group. And I definitely want to keep that. It’s really hard because I love all parts of the group, each in its own way.

And if you could keep just one private investment, which one would it be?
My biggest private investment is my four children. I’m very happy to have good relationships with my adult sons and younger daughters.

Who in the global business world inspires you? Whose actions do you admire?
There are many interesting people in global business, but I’d stick to someone closer to home. For me, an interesting and inspiring figure is Jaroslav Preiss. He was the general director of Živnostenská banka, which he led from 1917 to 1938. Under his leadership, the bank gained significant influence over the Czech economy, owning nearly half of Czechoslovakia’s industry at the time. Preiss chaired the boards of numerous companies and led the most important business associations. He was also the personal banker and advisor to President Masaryk. Incidentally, his nickname was “The Shark of the Powder Gate.” As the head of the bank, he had an incredible range of influence.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Perfect happiness, for me, is being healthy and having a healthy family. Having people around me that I feel good with, and doing what I love and what gives life meaning. Money alone won’t guarantee happiness, though it certainly makes life easier. But if I had to describe a specific vision of happiness: I’m with my family in Italy, drinking coffee, looking at the sea, the girls are laughing and playing by the pool, and my management in Prague calls to tell me they’re sending me dividends. (laughs)

What is your greatest fear?
I fear things we can’t control, like the war in Ukraine. Recently, I was worried about the floods that also hit my hometown of Olomouc. It’s not a fear for myself, but a sense of helplessness, knowing that in those moments, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

What do you regret the most in your life?
That’s a tough question – I’m sure there are things I would do differently if I could. But I try to focus on the future. There’s no point in dwelling on things you can’t change.

What’s your biggest business lesson?
Don’t get involved in business areas that you don’t know or aren’t already engaged in. That hasn’t worked out for me in the past. That’s why we stick to our three pillars in CREDITAS Group – financial services, energy, and development – and we continue to strengthen and grow in those areas. And our investors can rest easy.

And your biggest life lesson?
My younger brother died suddenly and quite young. In that moment, you realize how everything is relative, and what really matters in life. Of course, you tend to forget that over time, but it’s good to be reminded of it now and then.

What do you tell your children the most?
I think I let them know how much I care about them – they would probably say it’s lecturing them about the future. My children have quite a large age gap. To my adult sons, I most often say they should work harder, as they have or will have responsibility for the family business. My daughters are at an age where it’s sometimes better not to say anything at all. (laughs)

The interview was published in Forbes magazine. Author: Petr Šimůnek, Zdravko Krstanov, Photo: Anna Kovačič.