Jaroslav Strnad expands his port empire: J&T and CE Industries acquire stakes in Polish ports

Czech entrepreneur Jaroslav Strnad, together with the Auctor Holding investment group under J&T Private Equity Group, has completed a deal to acquire stakes in the Polish cargo ports of Świnoujście and Gdynia. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed, but according to Forbes sources, it runs into hundreds of millions of Czech crowns.

The asset belongs to OT Logistics, one of Poland's largest port and logistics infrastructure operators and a key player in Baltic Sea ports. The company has more than 80 years of history and its shares trade on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, though its business has recently faced declining revenue. Strnad and his partners secured nearly half of the stake in OT Logistics after several months of negotiations, and the deal has already been approved by Poland's antitrust regulator.

This marks the second port investment by CE Industries, the group owned by Strnad. The company also owns the railway wagon manufacturer Đuro Đaković in Croatia and had previously acquired a stake in Croatia's largest and most important port, Luka Rijeka, from the same owner.

For the Polish deal, Strnad teamed up with Auctor Holding, an investment group controlled by J&T Private Equity Group and Oleg Uskokovič, active across Central and Eastern Europe with consolidated revenue exceeding one billion euros. The joint owner of the key stake is officially DD Rail Properties, a joint venture between Auctor Holding and CE Industries.

"We plan to invest in port infrastructure and technology, and to improve communication with clients. I think it's a good thing that Czechia now has someone with real capabilities in Polish ports," Jaroslav Strnad said earlier in an interview with Forbes.

Adam Šotek, deputy chairman of the board at CE Industries, added that entering port logistics naturally complements the group's railway operations and opens new prospects for developing transport flows in the region. Josef Pilka, a board member at Auctor Holding, emphasized that Poland remains one of the group's key investment regions, where it plans to further strengthen its presence and seek new deal opportunities.

By the Around Prague newsroom