The consortium including Mr Niel, meanwhile, is offering €900m of equity but has the support of secured creditors owed €1.5bn, the group said in a statement. A spokesman for Mr Kretinsky declined to comment. The Czech investor’s business is offering €1.35bn in cash alongside a group of debtholders that will convert loans into equity in a deal worth €1.8bn, according to reports. Mr Kretinsky now has a 10pc stake in Sainsbury’s and a 26pc shareholding in Royal Mail, making him the FTSE 100 company’s biggest investor. Meanwhile, Mr Kretinsky has emerged from comparative obscurity to become one of Europe’s most prolific investors after making his initial money in the Czech Republic by acquiring power plants following the fall of the iron curtain. Mr Niel, a convicted tax evader, has claimed he spied on former president François Mitterrand and the car giant Renault in the 1980s for France’s security agency. Mr Kretinsky’s Noveau Monde and Mr Niel’s NJJ Presse each own 26.7pc of the newspaper’s shares. The competition threatens to drive a wedge between the two tycoons, who jointly own the French newspaper Le Monde.
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