One of the long-term problems of the Czech and Slovak economies in terms of capital maturity is the small number of large companies that originated in the Czech Republic or Slovakia. There are very few companies from the former Czechoslovakia that have grown to the size of international corporations.
Even fewer have entered the financial markets. And those that have entered major foreign stock exchanges are few and far between. In recent history, we find only a few cases: Avast, Eurowag, and, unfortunately, the unsuccessful story of SkyEurope.
Entering the stock exchange
Currently, after several years of preparation, the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) of entrepreneur Michal Strnad is planning to enter the Amsterdam stock exchange. It should offer a package of new shares worth EUR 750 million on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange, representing a 15% stake in the company.
Investors trading on the Prague Stock Exchange should not be left out either, as CSG shares should be available on the free market. Even small shareholders from the former Czechoslovakia will thus have the opportunity to become co-owners of a small piece of a company whose foundations are based on a long tradition of engineering and the arms industry.
The issue of dividends is very important for small investors and savers. CSG promises investors a dividend policy of 30 to 40 percent of net profit, with the first dividend payment planned for 2027.
The more Czech and Slovak small shareholders there are, the more profit will remain at home. This is one of the major risks of entering international capital markets—part of the money earned will ultimately flow abroad. It is the price of global financial markets functioning.
History and generational change
The story of the CSG holding company began in the 1990s, though of course not under this name at the time. Jaroslav Strnad began his first business activities by trading in scrap metal from the surplus stocks of the Czech Republic's army.
His quick grasp of the issue led him to found Excalibur Army in 1995, which traded in military equipment. It was this company that laid the foundations for the future holding company.
Another important milestone was the purchase of the famous Tatra car manufacturer in 2013. A year later, the Excalibur Group holding company was established, which was renamed Czechoslovak Group (CSG) in 2016. In 2017, the company gained wider public recognition as a donor of two million crowns to Miloš Zeman's presidential campaign. On October 28, 2018, in the Vladislav Hall, Zeman awarded the founder of the holding company, Jaroslav Strnad, with the Medal of Merit, First Class.
In the same year, a generational change took place. Jaroslav Strnad's son Michal took over as head of the company and is now the face of the entire company. In 2025, he replaced Renata Kellnerová as the richest Czech.
However, Jaroslav Strnad did not retire, but continues to do business within CE Industries, a.s., a holding company focused on railways, raw material recycling, engineering, and energy. The family's long-term strategy is therefore based on a strict separation of activities between father and son.
Arms holding company in the context of deindustrialization
The peculiarity of CSG's entry into the stock market lies in the fact that it is primarily an industrial company. Western Europe has been struggling with deindustrialization for a long time – the closure of factories and their relocation to the east has been a common phenomenon for decades. It will be a major challenge for Central Europe not to repeat this scenario, although it is slowly but surely beginning to happen today. Assembly plants are moving even further away in search of cheaper labor, outside the European continent.
It will therefore be crucial to retain companies that require not only capital, but above all technological know-how, a skilled workforce, and long-term investment in production. It is in this context that CSG represents an exception: it is a company whose value is not based on cheap labor, but on production capacity, engineering expertise, and strategic products that are indispensable to the modern European economy and security. Maintaining jobs in such an industry will be a major challenge for Central Europe.
A deep Slovak footprint
The Czechoslovak Group operates a total of 39 production plants in eight countries around the world, with the Czech Republic and Slovakia forming the core of the entire production structure. More than 14,000 people officially work for the group, of which more than 10,000 are in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
To get a better idea of the importance of CSG, it is enough to mention that Slovnaft employs 3,500 to 4,000 people in Slovakia, and one of the largest industrial companies in Slovakia, U.S. Steel Košice, employs 8,000 to 9,000 people. This arms holding company, with its plants in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, is thus in the same weight class as the national champions.
Slovakia plays a much more important role in the CSG story than it might seem at first glance. It is not just a matter of the historical continuity of the former Czechoslovak arms industry, but also a key production and technological base.
It is in Slovakia that the MSM Group holding company concentrates a substantial part of its production of medium- and large-caliber ammunition (for example, at ZVS Holding in Dubnica nad Váhom or VOP Nováky), covering the entire life cycle of ammunition from production through inspection to disposal. These companies are not just subcontractors, but strategic nodes in the European defense chain, especially in the context of massive replenishment of ammunition stocks within NATO.
The importance of large-caliber ammunition
The CSG holding company also has direct property links with Slovakia. ZVS Holding is owned equally by the Slovak Republic and the CSG group. At the beginning of December 2025, this company concluded a framework agreement for the supply of medium and large-caliber ammunition worth up to €58 billion over a period of seven years.
The new European defense program SAFE is expected to significantly help finance the purchases. Slovakia should have up to €2.3 billion available under this program.
These astronomical sums show how important the arms industry is to the Slovak economy. The production of large-caliber ammunition currently accounts for approximately two percent of Slovakia's GDP, and CSG, with its chain of ammunition companies in Slovakia, occupies a key position in this sector.
CSG's entry into the stock market is therefore not only a financial operation, but also a test of whether the Czech Republic and Slovakia can maintain and co-own industrial companies of truly European significance. If they succeed, it will not only be a success for one group, but also rare proof that even Central Europe can produce corporations that were not created as assembly plants, but as bearers of capital, production, and strategic value.