Arms Demand Propels 32-Year-Old to Ranks of Europe’s Richest

Weapons maker Michal Strnad likes to say he works in the business of defense. As Europe re-arms on a massive scale, it’s proving a lucrative place to be.

His closely-held Czechoslovak Group AS, which started out trading Soviet military material under his father three decades ago, has tripled in value in the past two years, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s sent his fortune soaring to about $16 billion, catapulting him into the ranks of the richest 30 Europeans and rivaling Renata Kellnerova as the Czech Republic’s wealthiest person.