Tykac’s Sev.en Global Investments announced this week the purchase of land in Queensland, Australia, including mining rights, to complement its purchases in the country, including Delta Power and Australia’s Salt Lake Potash.

The investor, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at $8 billion, told Reuters he is looking for similar deals in the United States, Australia and Canada, where he believes the rule of law and policy predictability are good for business.

“The coal and fossil world is very unfunded, the assets are very cheap because they have to be financed by equity,” Dycock said in his Prague office.

“We’ve passed critical mass and we have enough equity that we can buy multi-billion dollar projects,” he added.

Fossil industries will be phased out, but now they provide strong returns, he said.

“No doubt it will end one day, but there are opportunities in the sector at the moment and we don’t think there is any great urgency to need more plants,” he said.

Tycok became wealthy by investing in the Czech Republic in the 1990s, and later in the energy sector at home and abroad. Its Sev.en group includes coal-fired power stations and lignite mines in the Czech Republic that it hopes to close by 2026 without government subsidies. Its sister company Sev.en GI has interests in Australian coal-fired power stations under Genuity Pty. Ltd., and acquired Blackhawk Mining in Kentucky and West Virginia. The company owns 55,000 acres and more than 600,000 acres of mineral rights in Wyoming, Ohio, Illinois and West Virginia with 2.2 billion tons of coal reserves.

Tykac said his group had earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of EUR 2.5 billion ($2.75 billion) last year and expects a slightly lower or similar result this year.

“The projects that we have have very strong cash flow…so we’re looking at, when we’re not doing anything for a few months, we’re seeing if the inventory is replenished relatively quickly,” he said.

($1 = 0.9084 euros)