Petr Kellner (20 May 1964 – 27 March 2021) was a Czech billionaire entrepreneur, the founder and majority shareholder (98.93%) of the PPF Group.

[13] With help of these profitable transactions, the last investors from voucher privatization were bought out and Kellner became the dominant owner of PPF Group.

[7] In 2007, PPF Group signed a contract with Assicurazioni Generali to create a joint venture between PPF Group's insurance arm and Assicurazioni Generali's corporations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.

[16][17] In early September 2007, Ronald Lauder announced that Kellner held a 3% stake and was on the board of directors of Central European Media Enterprises.

Kellner demolished the hotel in 2014 and sought to turn the land into a campus of Open Gate, an elite private school he had founded.

PPF Group has often operated in state-regulated business (insurance, banking, telecommunications), so intermingling with the politics was inherent.

[5][20] The second is Ivan Kočárník [cs], who served as Czech Minister of Finance from 1992 to 1997, during the privatization of Česká pojišt'ovna into the hands of PPF Group.

[21] The third is Kellner's top lobbyist Vladimír Mlynář [cs],[5] the first Czech Minister of Informatics, who works for PPF Group since 2010.

[41][better source needed] He lived in an extensive residence in the village of Podkozí near Prague, and owned a number of other properties in various countries.

[43] Kellner died on 27 March 2021 in an Airbus AS350 B3 helicopter crash,[44] while heliskiing in Alaska's backcountry near Knik Glacier, 50 miles (80 km) east of Anchorage, along with four other people.

[48] According to the preliminary report, GPS data show the helicopter hovered at a low altitude and speed (about one knot, about 1 mph), maneuvering over the ridge in the last three minutes of the flight.