Petr Borkovec: Partners HQ permit took longer than a bank license

Petr Borkovec, co-founder of the financial group Partners, says his company has secured the key permit to build its new headquarters in Prague — a process that dragged on for years and turned out to be harder than getting a banking license. According to the entrepreneur, the project was held up by “saboteurs” — a neighboring investment firm, MEI, whose objections and appeals delayed the procedure by almost two years.

The Partners group was founded in 2007 by entrepreneurs Petr Borkovec and Radim Lukeš. Since then the company has grown from a financial-advisory business into an eight-billion-crown holding that includes a bank of the same name, the insurer Simplea, the pension company Rentea, the investment platform Aspire11, and the real-estate funds Trigea and Merity. Its current office in the Prague Gate business center in Chodov can no longer accommodate its growing staff.

The idea of building its own central headquarters next to the Westfield Chodov shopping center dates back to 2020. The plan was to erect a five-story building with seven thousand square meters of office space for 400–600 employees. Borkovec, known for his skepticism toward remote work, insisted on shared spaces for advisors, areas for client meetings, a conference room and a café with a terrace.

The group obtained zoning approval back in September 2024, but the process stalled over appeals from the neighboring company MEI, which, according to Borkovec, refused to negotiate and used procedural loopholes to drag out the approval. During that time, the entrepreneur notes, Partners' turnover tripled and its headcount doubled.

Other well-known businesspeople backed up the story: Milan Kratina, founder of the developer Accolade, and Jan Sadil, head of the company JRD, said that such obstacles to construction in Czechia are common practice, whether driven by a “not in my backyard” attitude or outright pressure for profit. Partners now has to obtain a building permit, choose a contractor, and finally begin construction.