Ice cracking beneath CEFC's deal for J&T Finance

by   CIJ iDesk I
2018-03-19   10:41
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The year-old deal through which the Chinese financial group CEFC would take over a majority of J&T Finance Group seems to be falling apart. The first signs of trouble came when the Chinese company's chairman of the board Ye Jianming was reported to be under investigation by Chinese authorities. This was all the more ominous because he had become essentially an advisor to the Czech president, Miloš Zeman. Just as worryingly, the company mortgaged most of its major real estate holdings in the Czech Republic (including the former Živnobanka building on Na Příkopě) in what it claimed was a standard financial exercise aimed at greater efficiency. It seems more likely that the move was part of a scramble for cash. Media reports now claim that J&T has given CEFC until the end of the month to explain its financial situation, or else the deal will collapse. In the meantime, president Zeman took the rather bizarre step of sending two of his closest aides to Beijing to find out more about the fate of Ye Jianming.