Prague 11 will sell its shares in the company AR Delta, which is building the Ice Sports Complex

Prague – Prague 11 will sell its shares in the company AR Delta, which is constructing the Ice Sports Complex (ALS) in the South City. This was decided by the council of the eleventh municipal district yesterday; previous proposals for the sale of shares had not been approved. Until now, Prague 11 held 50 percent of the shares in the company. The second shareholder in AR Delta is ALS Investors. The sports facility, which is now being built on municipal land near the Ke Kateřinkám elementary school, will include a covered ice rink and curling tracks.

The shares of the municipal district should be sold at a price determined based on an expert assessment, but not less than 40 million crowns. In 2020, Prague 11 purchased shares in AR Delta for five million crowns thanks to a grant from the Prague city hall, and with an additional 35 million crowns, which the municipality received from Prague as an interest-free loan, it increased the capital in the company. The second shareholder, ALS Investors, has the preemptive right to purchase the shares of the municipal district. ALS Investors is backed by Tomáš Kučera and, since last year, by the investment group Kaprain founded by Karel Pražák.

Today, the proposal to sell the shares was supported by the majority of councilors from the ruling parties, namely the Pirates, ANO, TOP 09, STAN, and ODS. Twenty-three out of 36 present councilors voted in favor. The proposal was not supported by councilors from the opposition group "We, who live here" and from the opposition "Movement for Prague 11" (HPP11). They have long been critical of the city council's approach to the project and describe the expenditure of public funds in the project as non-transparent. Therefore, they submitted a suggestion to the municipal public prosecutor's office for the matter to be investigated by prosecutorial authorities, as announced today by councilor Šárka Zdeňková (HPP11).

The possibility of selling shares for at least 40 million crowns has already been discussed by the councilors. The sale of the municipal district's share was the subject of discussions in a meeting in October 2021 and then again this year on February 1. At that time, the proposal did not gain sufficient support. At the meeting in early February, two votes were missing from the necessary 23 to approve the materials. There was also an offer from ALS Investors, which wanted to buy 30 percent of the municipal district's share for 24 million crowns. The council rejected the offer last November, and councilors also rejected it the following month.

The construction of the Ice Sports Complex has been in preparation for several years. A private investor started the preparations in 2014. Construction work began at the beginning of 2019, with an expected cost of around 120 million crowns and completion planned for mid-2020. Last year, AR Delta representatives told ČTK that the sports facility should be finished this year and would cost 194 million crowns.

The Pirates, ANO, ODS, TOP 09, and STAN govern in the South City. Since spring 2021, there have been disputes among the coalition partners in the South City, with some political entities subsequently stating that they no longer feel bound by the coalition agreement. The municipal district, home to 77,600 residents, includes the cadastral areas of Chodov and Háje.