The largest shareholder and chairman of the board of directors of Rossiya Bank. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Joint-Stock Bank Rossiya since 2004, the largest shareholder of the bank and one of its founders. As the head of this bank, he was called the owner of numerous assets, including Sogaz and the National Media Group. Chairman of the Board of the North-West Center for Strategic Research Foundation since 2000. In the past, a physicist, laureate of the USSR State Prize in Science and Technology (1988). He was repeatedly called in the press one of the close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Biography"
Born in the family of a Soviet historian of Ukrainian origin Valentin Mikhailovich Kovalchuk (1916-2013). In 1974 he graduated from the Faculty of Physics of the Leningrad State University. Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (1985). In 1987-1991 - First Deputy Director of the Physico-Technical Institute. Ioffe of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
Since February 1991 - Deputy Chairman of the Board (Vice President) of the Association of Joint Ventures of St. Petersburg. In 1991, he became president of the Center for Advanced Technologies and Developments. During these years, he became close to the brothers Fursenko and V.V. Putin. In 1996, they established the Ozero dacha cooperative near Priozersk.
"Themes"
"News"
Channel One will receive 537 million rubles from the budget. for showing military parades
To compensate for the expenses of Channel One, which organized the broadcast of the naval parade in St. Petersburg in 2017-2018, the government allocated 537 million rubles.
Bank Rossiya has made changes to the tariffs for credit cards
Bank Rossiya has improved the conditions for the World of Opportunities card credit product of the Mir payment system. Now, for all categories of customers, the interest rate is set at 20% per annum.
“The card will be issued free of charge, and service starting from the second year will amount to 1,000 rubles,” comments Polina Pronina, an expert on credit products at Banki.ru.
Mikhail Klishin headed Rossiya Bank
Mikhail Klishin has been appointed Acting Chairman of the Board of Rossiya Bank. This is stated in the message of the credit institution.
"Since February 21, Mikhail Alekseevich Klishin, who previously held the post of First Deputy Chairman of the Bank's Management Board, has been acting as Chairman of the Board of JSC JSB Rossiya," the press release says.
The bank noted that Andrey Khorobrov, who headed the credit institution since 2015, "is moving to a new position."
The structure of Yuri Kovalchuk bought the Crimean "New World"
The winner of the auction for the purchase of 100% of the shares of one of the oldest wineries in the Crimea were the structures of Yuri Kovalchuk. This is the first major deal on the privatization of the former state property of Ukraine since 2014.
Banks Rotenberg and Kovalchuk admitted to public money
Dmitry Medvedev gave permission to work with state funds to banks Severny sea route"and" Russia "
Kovalchukov and Rotenberg launched into the state budget
SMP Bank and Bank Rossiya, which are under sanctions, will be able to work with state-owned companies and the budget.
SMP Bank, controlled by Boris and Arkady Rotenberg, as well as Yury Kovalchuk's Rossiya Bank, are allowed to work with state funds, follows from orders signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on October 28. It follows from the text of the documents that SMP Bank is allowed to keep temporarily free money of state corporations and state companies, as well as reserves of the Federal Social Insurance Fund, on deposits. Bank Rossiya was also allowed to keep the reserves of the Social Insurance Fund and federal budget funds.
The Kremlin invited the US Treasury to prove Putin's corruption
Press Secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov called the statement of the representative of the US Treasury about the corruption of Vladimir Putin slander. According to him, it is now the task of the financial department to “provide evidence”
British journalists in their investigation drew attention to the fact that for the first time Putin himself is accused of corruption, and not people from his entourage who fell under US sanctions. In March 2014, the US Department of the Treasury added businessmen to the sanctions list, which the department called representatives of Vladimir Putin's "inner circle". It included Gennady Timchenko, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, as well as Yuri Kovalchuk.
How did Kovalchuk save Barmaley?
The infamous Buer company, affiliated with Vladimir Golubev, well-known in the underground under the nickname Barmaley, received a contract for 1.6 billion rubles. Participants in business processes say that billionaire Yuri Kovalchuk helped Barmaley.
CJSC Buer became the only participant in the tender with a maximum price of 1.66 billion rubles. for the construction of an extension of Sofiyskaya Street with an exit to the Metallostroy industrial zone. Such data are given in the protocol for summing up the results of the competition on the public procurement website.
Note that the company cannot be the only participant - this item violates the law on public procurement.
Buer offered to complete the work for 1.65 billion rubles. The second application received for the competition from the company "Unified Communal Systems" (offered to perform work for 1.61 billion rubles) was recognized as not meeting the requirements. Allegedly, the commission was not satisfied with the EKS bank guarantee.
Recall that in November last year, the St. Petersburg authorities violated the law on competition when holding tenders for 1 billion rubles. Corruption fighters single out among the companies that won the auction Buer, affiliated with billionaire Yuri Kovalchuk and members of the organized crime group.
The St. Petersburg OFAS is already dealing with the case. The most interesting thing is that the competition for the repair of roads in the Kirov and Central regions was won by CJSC Buer for 599 million rubles, LLC SK Orion Plus also participated in it, offering to perform work for 602 million rubles. The contract for the repair of roads in the Nevsky and Petrogradsky districts was received by SK Orion Plus LLC for 465.2 million rubles, Inzhdorstroy LLC (455.9 million rubles) and Buer (466.7 million rubles) participated in the tender. ).
Beeline plus Tele2One of the interlocutors of Vedomosti believes that the deal under discussion could damage the negotiations on the Uzbek case, since part of the shareholders of Tele2 - Yuri Kovalchuk and VTB - are under US sanctions. In general, Vimpelcom could benefit from the deal if the company expects to regain its previous positions in the country while maintaining a high debt burden.
Speaker Naryshkin's family soldering the State Duma
In 2003, Sergey Naryshkin became one of the founders of the cultural and leisure non-profit partnership "Dip-Club", registered in St. Petersburg. The main task of the organization is to create a positive image of Russia in the world. Judging by the fact that Naryshkin himself, after the introduction of personal sanctions against him, is persona non grata in Europe and the USA, the club does not cope very well with the task. Another co-founder of the partnership, Yuri Kovalchuk, a former neighbor of Vladimir Putin in the dacha, the majority owner of Rossiya Bank, also thundered under sanctions for the company with Naryshkin.
The ex-deputy head of Roskomnadzor went to work for the shareholder of Channel One
The National Media Group was created in 2008 as a result of the merger of the assets of Rossiya Bank, Yuri Kovalchuk, SOGAZ, Surgutneftegaz, and Alexei Mordashov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Severstal.
NMG manages REN TV, Channel Five, Izvestiya newspaper, Metro newspaper from St. Petersburg and Russian News Service radio station. The group also owns 25% of Channel One and 50% of the production studio Art Pictures Vision. Alina Kabaeva is the chairman of the board of directors of NMG, the president is Kirill Kovalchuk, nephew of Yuri Kovalchuk.
The money of the Putin Family returned from Cyprus to Russia.
Russian money is returned to the country from offshore accounts of 14 friends of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, fearing the seizure of assets on the example of Muammar Gaddafi and in connection with the downgrade of the credit rating of Cyprus and the growing dependence of Cyprus on the European Union. According to information available to the American and British intelligence services, the bulk of the funds came from the accounts of the controlled: Arkady Rotenberg, Boris Rotenberg, Gennady Timchenko, Viktor Khmarin, Yuri Kovalchuk, Mikhail Kovalchuk, Sergey Fursenko, Alexander Grigoriev, Matthias Warnig, Valery Musin, Valery Golubev, Nikolai Shamalov, Mikhail Putin, Mikhail Shelomov, Obid Yasinov, Vladimir Pligin, and their partners.
Kovalchuk controlled NPO Energomash - Reuters
From 2010 to 2014, “partial control” over NPO Energomash was exercised by Yuri Kovalchuk, co-owner of Rossiya Bank, who fell under US sanctions in March of this year, follows from a Reuters investigation, which cites company documents and anonymous sources. Kovalchuk allegedly gained control when President Vladimir Putin "ordered that production be supervised by another state-owned space company, RSC Energia." Also, until 2014, Kovalchuk controlled a minority stake in RSC Energia through a number of firms, the agency notes. “Kovalchuk, thus, with the support of the Russian Space Agency, has become a key player in both enterprises - RSC Energia and Energomash,” Reuters refers to a top manager of RSC Energia. He claims that the Kremlin assigned Kovalchuk the role of "an unofficial leader in the space industry." People from Kovalchuk's entourage reject all these assumptions.
The Reuters investigation also suggests that Florida-based RD Amross, a joint venture between NPO Energomash and its partner United Technologies, will raise $93 million over the current value of a multi-year contract to supply Russian rocket engines to the US from 2014 to 2017. RD-180. This amount will be added to the contract, despite the fact that in 2011 Pentagon auditors disputed similar surcharges. Under intergovernmental agreements, RD-180 rocket engines manufactured by NPO Energomash are supplied to the United States, which are installed on Atlas rockets operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) - a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. ULA puts into orbit military satellites, including the most secret, wrote the Financial Times. Some US senators, such as John McCain, see the deal as "cloudy" and demand disclosure of its cost.
The EU has included Almaz-Antey and Dobrolet on the sanctions list
The European Union has expanded the sanctions list against Russia. According to a publication in the official journal of the EU, restrictions have been imposed on eight people and three companies - the Russian National Commercial Bank, Almaz-Antey Air Defense and Dobrolet Airlines.
Shenderovich: For 15 years, an angel of unprecedented freebies has been hovering over Putin's Russia. All Putin's friends on this occasion were included in the Forbes list.
After the tragedy with Boeing and sharp criticism of Russia from the West, Vladimir Putin held a meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, at which he said that nothing threatened his country, but that it was necessary to “think about additional steps to reduce the dependence” of the state on “external factors”. Viktor Shenderovich, a well-known writer and satirist, columnist for the GORDON publication, discusses what it means in Russian realities to take a course towards reducing dependence on the West.
Obama imposes new sanctions on Russia
President Barack Obama expanded the sanctions list against Russia. It included Ukrainian and Russian officials, oligarchs, as well as Rossiya Bank. The American leader's speech was broadcast by CNN. Sanctions mean asset freezes and visa restrictions.
There are 20 people on the new list. Among them are presidential aide Andrei Fursenko, head of the presidential administration Sergei Ivanov, businessman Yuri Kovalchuk, leader of A Just Russia Sergei Mironov, State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin, businessman Gennady Timchenko (head of the Volga Group and co-owner of the Gunvor oil trader), head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, State Duma deputy Sergei Zheleznyak, businessmen Arkady and Boris Rotenberg (who own a stake in Mostotrest and other assets), Alexei Gromov, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, and Vladimir Kozhin, the Presidential Executive Director. A complete list is contained in a US Treasury document.
Kovalchuk Bank will not receive dividends from CTC Media due to sanctions
On Wednesday, the CTC Media holding (which manages the CTC, Domashny and Peretz channels) announced that it would comply with “all requirements and restrictions” associated with US government sanctions when paying dividends. The report for the first quarter states that we are talking on the payment of dividends to one of the shareholders - the Cypriot Telcrest. This company owns 25.4% of the shares of the parent structure of the television holding - CTC Media Inc., registered in the state of Delaware. Telcrest is controlled by the structures of Yury Kovalchuk, the Rossiya Bank, which fell under the sanctions.
Vedomosti: Yuri Kovalchuk may become a shareholder of Rostelecom
03/05/2014, Moscow 10:12:10 The largest shareholder of Bank Rossiya, Yuri Kovalchuk, will claim the state stake in OJSC Rostelecom, the Vedomosti newspaper writes, citing sources close to the shareholders and in Rostelecom itself.
Kovalchuk's company bought "Art Pictures" Fyodor Bondarchuk and Dmitry Rudovsky
Yuri Kovalchuk's National Media Group today bought 50% of the Art Pictures Vision film company (part of the Art Pictures Group of Companies), the parties reported. Art Pictures co-owner Dmitry Rudovsky confirmed this.
By purchasing ProfMedia from Potanin, Putin's friends will receive 60% of the TV audience and 80% of TV advertising revenue
The main political news of the week, month, year? The Gazprom-Media holding bought television and radio assets of the ProfMedia holding. If the Antimonopoly Service approves the deal, then 11 of the 17 largest Russian TV channels will de facto be controlled by members of the Ozero cooperative and the president's closest friends, the brothers Yuri and Mikhail Kovalchuk. What is the purpose of concentrating the electronic media in one hand? How legal it is and what it will lead to - understood The New Times.
Two Steps Back: Why the Russian Knowledge Economy Failed
The knowledge economy is the future! Today it is understood by all progressive mankind. Innovation and knowledge are the engine of economic growth in modern world. This conclusion was reached outstanding minds even in the last century. The term "knowledge economy" was first introduced in 1962 by the Austro-American scientist Fritz Machlup.
That is why foreign investment in Russia unexpectedly tripled in the first half of the year.
The volume of foreign investment in the Russian economy in the first half of 2011 amounted to $87.7 billion, which is 2.9 times more than in the same period in 2010, reported federal Service state statistics (Rosstat). Direct investments for the first six months of 2011 increased by 29.8% and amounted to $7 billion. The accumulated volume of foreign investment in the economy by the end of June amounted to $315 billion, an increase of 19.9% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
According to Rosstat, the main investments come from Cyprus, where the owners of most Russian industrial holdings and companies are registered, at the end of June they amounted to $70 billion. The Netherlands and Luxembourg occupy the second and third lines - $43 billion and $34.4 billion, respectively.
In turn, over the six months of this year, Russia sent $67.2 billion of investments abroad, which is 31.5% more than in the same period in 2010. The bulk of the money went to Cyprus ($25.3 billion), to the Netherlands ($25 billion) and in the USA ($7.7 billion).
Yuri Kovalchuk may become a co-owner of Tele2 Russia
Rossiya Bank is ready to buy about 30% of the operator from VTB
Yuri Kovalchuk engaged in the production of space equipment
Management Company "Leader" turned out to be the owner of a blocking stake in RSC Energia
Yuri Kovalchuk will save Russian bookstores in Europe
Russian banker Yuri Kovalchuk launched a large-scale program to preserve and develop Russian cultural centers in Europe. Yesterday, the Austrian linguistic society Multika announced that, thanks to its investment, the largest Russian bookstore in Vienna, Knigi, is reopening. Prior to this, the businessman saved the Russian book store in Paris, becoming its shareholder in November 2012. In the near future - the revival of bookstores in Geneva and Amsterdam. Investments in each object do not exceed 300 thousand euros.
Collector of newspapers, radio and TV channels Yuri Kovalchuk Media tycoon No. 1
What and in whose interests does Yuri Kovalchuk own, whose media reached every Russian family
The entire Russian press accompanies any mention of Yuri Kovalchuk with an indispensable postscript: "Putin's friend." It is curious that such additions are not added to the names of, for example, Minister of Education Andrei Fursenko or head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, although the degree of their closeness to the elected president is no less. I think it's because his last name most often comes up in connection with another media purchase. And the press with this headline - "Putin's friend bought REN TV" - seems to make it clear in whose interests this purchase was made (which cannot be said about the events related to his other old comrades: it is hard to imagine that it was in Putin's interests that schoolchildren were forced to take Unified State Examination or once again raised prices for railway tickets).
Bank Saint Petersburg denied information about its sale
Bank Saint-Petersburg, which is one of the thirty largest in Russia, denied information about negotiations with a view to the sale.
Kovalchuk is negotiating control over the bank "Saint Petersburg" - Kommersant
MOSCOW, September 14 - RIA Novosti. Majority shareholder and head of the board of Bank Saint Petersburg, Alexander Savelyev, is negotiating the sale of his stake with Rossiya Bank, controlled by businessman Yuri Kovalchuk, the Kommersant newspaper writes on Wednesday.
Petr Aven bought STS Media shares for $2.99 million
Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of CTC Media Petr Aven acquired a total of 150.6 thousand shares of CTC Media media holding. The purchase was made in two tranches: on June 10, 142.6 thousand shares were purchased at a price of $19.86, and on June 13 - 8 thousand shares at a price of $19.82, according to a message posted on the website of the Commission for Securities US papers.
Trading in CTC Media shares yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange opened from a price of $19.7 per share, after the announcement of the transaction, the price rose to $20.7 per share at the close of the exchange. In May of this year, a pool of investors led by Yuri Kovalchuk's National Media Group signed a deal to buy a 25.17% stake in STS Media from Alfa Group at a price of about $27.1 per share, or with a premium of over 40% to the then market price.
“Peter Aven bought the shares at the market price. The fall in the price of CTC Media shares in May, in my opinion, was a reaction, firstly, to the rather weak results of the first quarter of 2011, and secondly, to the sale of a block of shares owned by Alfa Group, a consortium of investors who are affiliated with Bank Rossiya. The last event had a negative impact on the share price, as there is some uncertainty about the strategy of new investors in relation to the company. Now the shares are trading below the price at which the Alfa Group package was bought, - says Anna Lepetukhina, an analyst at Troika Dialog.
Y. Kovalchuk buys Video International
The owner of REN-TV and Izvestia bought shares of Channel One from Abramovich
The National Media Group (NMG) holding, which owns the REN-TV and Pyaty channels, as well as the Izvestia newspaper, acquired a 25% stake in Channel One from Roman Abramovich's Millhouse structures. This is reported by the newspaper "Kommersant". According to the publication, citing a source, the NMG holding, controlled by the largest shareholder of Rossiya Bank Yuri Kovalchuk, bought out a 100% stake in the authorized capital of Rastrcom-2002 LLC, which owns a 25% stake in the TV channel.
The Kovalchuks have found an influential leader for their insurance business
The chairman of Sogaz, instead of Vadim Yanov, who is close to the oil trader Gennady Timchenko, will be the son of First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov. Sogaz's board of directors approved Yanov's resignation of his own free will on Tuesday, Sogaz reported. Sergei Ivanov, deputy chairman of the board of Gazprombank and son of the first vice-premier of the government, Sergei Ivanov, has been appointed to his place.
New Russian oligarchs live quietly.
Now everything has changed. If you want to work “under Putin”, you need to be quiet, stay away from politics and generally be wary of publicity. This is how the “new wave” oligarchs Gennady Timchenko, Yuri Kovalchuk and Arkady Rotenberg behave, writes the French newspaper Le Figaro. These people are expanding their business empires, making multimillion-dollar deals, but all this is done without the close attention of the public and journalists.
Oligarchs - Gross Domestic Product of Russia
One of the dark outcomes of Vladimir Putin's rule was Russia's plunge into a hopeless abyss of corruption. Worst of all, corruption in the highest echelons of power is actually legalized in Russia. Putin's old friends who were nobody before he came to power - Gennady Timchenko, Yuri Kovalchuk, the Rotenberg brothers - have turned into dollar billionaires. It is not surprising that the country is beginning to copy the behavior of its leader. Back in 2000, we were ranked 82nd in Transparency International's global corruption ranking (a non-governmental international organization that fights corruption and studies corruption levels around the world). The country was heavily corrupted
All friends of Vladimir Putin
All the friends of Vladimir Putin, it turns out there are not so many of them as it seems: Mikhail Kovalchuk, Kirill Kovalchuk, Yuri Kovalchuk, Boris Kovalchuk, Alexei Anichkin, Rudik Iskuzhin, Nikolai Patrushev, Viktor Cherkesov, Vladimir Churov, Igor Sechin, Andrey Belyaninov, Andrey Fursenko.
Director of the Russian Scientific Center "Kurchatov Institute". A physicist by education, he graduated from the Leningrad State University. In 1988 he defended his doctorate. In 1998, he became the director of the Institute of Crystallography. A.V. Shubnikov RAS. Since 2000 - Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is also the Scientific Secretary of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Science, Technology and Education. In the field scientific interests Kovalchuk also X-ray physics and optics, X-ray crystallography, nano-bio-organic materials and systems. I am closely acquainted with Vladimir Putin from St. Petersburg.
Businessman. In the early 1990s worked at the Institute of Crystallography. A.V. Shubnikov RAS. In 2000, he joined LLC Development Group public relations”, created by the PR company Mikhailov and Partners CJSC. Since 2003, he worked at Techsnabexport. Currently, he controls Zheldorconsulting and Grand Service Express, and also owns the most expensive passenger train in Russia.
Chairman of the Board of the Foundation "Center for Strategic Research "North-West", one of the initiators of its creation. He has headed the fund since its foundation in 2000. Also, since 2004, Kovalchuk has been the head of the board of directors of Rossiya joint-stock bank, where he owns more than 30 percent. shares. He began working at the Physico-Technical Institute. Ioffe Academy of Sciences of the USSR. There he went from an ordinary graduate student to the first deputy director. In 1991, he became president of the Center for Advanced Technologies and Developments. Also, since 1996, he has been the Honorary Consul General of the Kingdom of Thailand in St. Petersburg. Controls Gazprombank, which owns Gazprommedia. On the basis of Channel 5 and Ren-TV, he creates the National Media Group holding. I am closely acquainted with Vladimir Putin from St. Petersburg.
Head of the Department for National Projects of the Government Office of the Russian Federation. led this state structure one month after its founding in March 2006. Boris Kovalchuk started working in 1999 as a legal adviser to the department of FSUE "Granit". In 2006, he was an assistant to First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Bank with the loud name "Russia" Kovalchuk and partners received from Putin's hands
In no Western European country can a person earn billions of dollars in 5-6 years, President Putin said in late 2003 in response to a question about the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Yuri Kovalchuk was not yet a billionaire. This turned out to be an easy fix. Three federal TV channels, the country's third-largest bank in terms of assets, a powerful insurance group, leading nuclear engineering, shipbuilding, and petrochemical enterprises. Any oligarch would envy such a gentleman's set, but this is not yet full list. The threads of control of this empire lead to a three-story Art Nouveau building in the quiet center of St. Petersburg. On the house is the flag and coat of arms of the Kingdom of Thailand. And here is the owner - a short-haired gray-haired man in a gray suit comes out of the door, accompanied by two guards. Meet Yuri Kovalchuk, Honorary Consul of Thailand, the main shareholder of the St. Petersburg Bank Rossiya.
Fraternal business, banker and scientist. Kovalchuk
Mikhail and Yuri Kovalchuk were born in Leningrad in 1946 and 1951 respectively. Both graduated from the Faculty of Physics of Leningrad State University. Yuri Kovalchuk from 1977 to 1988 worked at the Physico-Technical Institute. Ioffe, but in the early 1990s he went into business. Mikhail Kovalchuk, after graduating from the university, moved to Moscow - to the Institute of Crystallography, of which he became director in 1998.
Entities owned, held or controlled by:
bank "Russia";
Insurance Company"SOGAZ";
the newspaper "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti";
television and radio company "Petersburg";
Center for Strategic Research North-West;
Kurchatov center.
Yuri Kovalchuk bought a quarter of Channel One shares for his friend Vladimir Putin
Yuri Kovalchuk became a co-owner of Channel One
Entrepreneur Yuri Kovalchuk acquired a 25 percent stake in Channel One OJSC from Roman Abramovich's structures, RIA Novosti reports. The value of the asset amounted to 150 million dollars, according to Kommersant. The transaction was carried out by selling Rastrcom-2002, controlled by Abramovich's Millhouse Capital holding, which owns a blocking stake in the TV channel. The buyer was Kovalchuk's National Media Group, which already owns controlling stakes in REN and Petersburg-Fifth Channel.
Yuri Kovalchuk +1
Yuri Kovalchuk bought out a blocking stake in Channel One from Roman Abramovich
Yuriy Kovalchuk acquired RastrCom-2002 LLC
Yuri Kovalchuk bought additional shares of Rossiya Bank
The largest shareholder of Rossiya Bank, Yuri Kovalchuk, bought out 5.994% of the bank's shares from the investment company Abros, a 100% subsidiary of the credit institution. As a result, his stake increased from 30.429 shares to 36.423%. The bank did not comment on this deal, it was not possible to contact Kovalchuk himself. The increase in the share of Kovalchuk, a longtime acquaintance of Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, takes place on the eve of the merger of Rossiya with Gazenergoprombank controlled by Gazprom. In May, the shareholders of both banks approved the decision to merge on the basis of Rossiya, which is scheduled to be completed by October. For the shareholders of Gazenergoprombank Rossiya issues 419,809 shares with a par value of 200 rubles. Thus, the structures of "Gazprom" in the new bank should get 16.7% of the shares. Kovalchuk's package was supposed to dilute to blocking - 25.014%. However, now it will remain almost at the same level as before the deal with Abros - 30.369%. This company no longer has Rossiya shares.
Co-owner of Rossiya Bank.
The first takeoff in the career of Yuri Kovalchuk was associated with science - in 1974 he graduated from the Faculty of Physics of Leningrad State University. A.A. Zhdanov, at the age of 28 he defended his Ph. A. F. Ioffe - the future Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov. Perhaps this was the first and last person with whom Kovalchuk, who knows how to be friends, "did not see eye to eye." In 1990-91. he, together with another deputy of Alferov, Andrey Fursenko, decided to create a ring of innovative companies at the institute for the implementation scientific discoveries into the real economy and earning money from it. The director of the institute did not support the "commercialization" plans, and the deputies were forced to leave their posts.
Yuri Kovalchuk strengthened the property
On the eve of the completion of the consolidation of Rossiya Bank and Gazenergoprombank, the main owner of the former, Yuri Kovalchuk, increased his voting shares in the bank by 6%. The seller was a minority shareholder of "Russia" IC "Abros", which owned 5.99% of the voting shares. According to market participants, the increase in the share gives Mr. Kovalchuk great opportunities in terms of managing the merged bank, experts say.
Yuri Kovalchuk, Suleiman Kerimov and VTB may buy Inteko
VTB and structures controlled by the co-owner of Surgutneftegaz and Rossiya Bank Yuri Kovalchuk are interested in buying Inteko Elena Baturina or the company's projects, the Kommersant newspaper reported. Several projects, in particular for hotel sites, want to buy the owner of Nafta-Moskva, Suleiman Kerimov, the publication claims. The representative of Inteko denies the fact of any negotiations with the named applicants, and the speaker of the Nafta-Moscow company said that the possibility of buying Baturina's projects was studied, but no decision was made. At several sites, negotiations between Baturina and Nafta continue. Most market participants are sure that after the resignation of her husband, Elena Baturina will be able to develop her business only abroad. In particular, it has 1.5 thousand hectares of land in Morocco, where it is planned to build resort real estate.
Yuri Kovalchuk acquired Video International
Yuri Kovalchuk bought the Izvestia newspaper from himself
Gazprom-Media is no longer the controlling shareholder of Izvestiya newspaper. Control over the package, which is 50.19 percent. shares of OAO Izvestia, passed to the SOGAZ insurance group, Interfax reports.
Yuri Kovalchuk broke up with Alcazar
First plus fifth
In early February, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin came to Channel One to congratulate its leader Konstantin Ernst on the upcoming 50th birthday and at the same time chat with the channel's employees about life. A few days later, it became known that 25 percent of the shares of the main state media tribune were bought by Yuri Kovalchuk, whom the business press calls the prime minister's "friend" from year to year.
"Who owns half of my business, I don't know"
Aram Gabrelyanov, owner and director of the News Media publishing house, has been appointed deputy director general of the National Media Group. He will oversee the Izvestia newspaper and the NMG websites. Slon.ru found out why Yuri Kovalchuk needed Gabrelyanov as a manager and what tasks were set for him.
"Gazprom" can sell "Zenith"
The head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, is getting rid of non-core assets. Together with 4.5% of Gazprombank, control over football club"Zenith" can get Yuri Kovalchuk, co-owner of the bank "Russia" and a friend of Vladimir Putin.
The origin of Putin's oligarchy. Presidential entourage: dossier, connections, possible appointments.
OLIGARCHY (from "oligoi" - a few, a minority; "arche" - board, management, power) is a political system in which a wealthy minority governs the state in their own selfish interests and by undemocratic means. Or, in short, OLIGARCHY is the collective authoritarianism of the propertied class.
Gazprom has decided to sell its stake in Gazprombank, the third largest bank in the country. Now Gazprom controls 40%, another 43% is controlled by Yuri Kovalchuk
Gas is released from the bank
Gazprom has decided to sell its stake in Gazprombank, the third largest bank in the country. Now Gazprom controls 40%, another 43% is controlled by Yuri Kovalchuk.
Andrey Kruglov, a spokesman for Gazprom, announced yesterday that Gazprom is selling its stake in Gazprombank. He clarified that while the concern is waiting for an adequate proposal from potential investors, according to RIA Novosti.
Earlier it was reported that Gazprombank was supposed to conduct an initial public offering on the stock exchange. It was expected that this would happen at the end of 2008, however, due to the credit crisis, the IPO was postponed indefinitely.
How long it may take to find an investor for Gazprombank, Gazprom did not specify. In the second half of 2008, several credit institutions in Russia changed owners at once, but this was due to the fact that the purchased banks were on the verge of bankruptcy. Investors are still mainly state structures.
V currently Along with Gazprom, the bank's major beneficiary is businessman Yuri Kovalchuk. Through Sogaz OJSC, Leader Management Company and Abros Investment Company, he controls 43% of Gazprombank.
The bank owns assets not only in Russia - it participates in the capital of Belgazprombank in Belarus and Areximbank in Armenia. In addition, he owns a number of petrochemical and media assets. According to the results of 2007, Gazprombank's assets amounted to $38.8 billion.
Kovalchuk as a prisoner of Gazprom
I regularly meet two polar points of view about ownership in Gazprombank, the third largest in Russia. The first version is that the bank is a state bank. Since Gazprom is controlled by the federal government, so is its bank. After all, the name contains the word "Gazprom". Others, on the contrary, argue that the bank has already been actually privatized. Like, the evil Yuri Kovalchuk (a friend of Vladimir Putin and the largest co-owner of Rossiya Bank), while we were ranting about the nationalization of the economy and the problems associated with it in a competitive environment, took and took over a bank with an excellent pedigree. Blue fuel - blue blood.
Vladimir Putin launches his presidential campaign
So far, one thing is clear: clouds are gathering over Gazprom. But the picture becomes much more multidimensional and at the same time clearer if the figures are replaced by faces. Who will get the billion dollars that Gazprom lost? First, Gazprombank, whose name should not be misleading - Gazprom has not owned it for a long time. Gazprombank, through the Leader company and the Rossiya bank, is controlled by Yuri Kovalchuk (we have already encountered his son Boris Kovalchuk). But, as already mentioned, Hibridge Ventures Ltd has an option to buy NOVATEK shares from Gazprombank. The terms of the option are unknown. But the names of the option holder are known - this is Gennady Timchenko, co-owner of NOVATEK, the largest oil trader Gunvor and much more, as well as Leonid Mikhelson, the permanent head of NOVATEK. It is reasonable to assume that the prize billion dollars will eventually be divided between the gentlemen Kovalchuk, Timchenko and Mikhelson. It is important that Kovalchuk and Timchenko, as has been written about many times, are part of Vladimir Putin's inner circle. This is already enough to get another billion. But in this case - in the affected "Gazprom". He rewards and arms those who lead a decisive offensive against his positions - independent gas suppliers. It is clear that he is compelled to do so. This is simply impossible without the participation of higher political forces. There is only one conclusion: in Putin's inner circle, where Alexei Miller is also a member, there is a regrouping of forces and means. The reason is clearly political, and among those, the upcoming presidential elections are beyond competition. At this time, a reliable private oligarch is more valuable than a loyal state-owned company, he is freer in the disposal of funds, and in general more efficient.
Yuri Kovalchuk gave his son energy for birth feeding
Boris Kovalchuk, son of Putin's oligarch, on the boards of directors of OGK-1 and Inter-RAO . In 2003, Kovalchuk Jr. was elected to the audit commission of Rossiya, in 2006 he headed the department of national projects of the government. In January, he was relieved of this post at his own request, and the department itself soon disappeared.
A close friend of Putin and a graduate of the “Sechin school” enter the battle
The owner and head of the company, Vladimir Bogdanov, attracted two strong allies, Yuri Kovalchuk and Gennady Timchenko, to the hardware struggle for the assets of Surgutneftegaz, which Rosneft set its sights on. It is the representatives of this group of influence in the Kremlin who must protect the business of the Yugra citizen on the Moscow front, while he is trying to rectify the situation with mass rallies on the periphery. Lenses on a friend and neighbor of Putin and on the one who is trusted with almost all Russian oil, as well as a fresh "drain" from the presidential administration of the Russian Federation - read in the material "URA.Ru".
Strangers among their own
In 1991, Andrei Fursenko and his friend Yuri Kovalchuk resigned from their posts as deputy directors of the Physico-Technical Institute. Ioffe, because director Zhores Alferov refused to support their idea of creating "technology transfer" centers at the institute, which would earn money for the institute by introducing scientific discoveries into production. Fursenko and Kovalchuk eventually set up their own centers and made money. They also earned a unique experience in their own way. Six years ago, Fursenko and Kovalchuk organized the aforementioned Center for Strategic Research "North-West" and RVCA, which propagated the idea that Russia is ashamed to be a raw materials appendage of advanced countries and that it should become a state that develops innovative technologies and a venture economy based on the latter. achievements of science.
Affairs of friends
Petersburg acquaintances of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Yuri Kovalchuk and Arkady Rotenberg are behind the construction of the first two toll roads in Russia. Both come from Moscow and are actually built with state money, the newspaper writes on September 20.
Three federal TV channels, the country's third-largest bank in terms of assets, a powerful insurance group, leading nuclear engineering, shipbuilding, and petrochemical enterprises. Any oligarch would envy such a gentleman's set, and this is not yet a complete list. The threads of control of this empire lead to a three-story Art Nouveau building in the quiet center of St. Petersburg. On the house is the flag and coat of arms of the Kingdom of Thailand. And here is the owner - a short-haired gray-haired man in a gray suit comes out of the door, accompanied by two guards. Meet Yuri Kovalchuk, Honorary Consul of Thailand, the main shareholder of the St. Petersburg Bank Rossiya.
A few years ago, something incredible began to happen to Gazprom's subsidiaries.
In 2004, the gas monopoly sold its insurer Sogaz. Control over Sogaz cost the end buyer 1.7 billion rubles. Over the next two and a half years, the insurance company earned its shareholders 7.5 billion rubles of net profit and paid them $50 million in dividends. For the buyer, this is a great deal, even when compared with loans-for-shares auctions. Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich paid $100 million for a controlling stake in Sibneft; the total profit of Sibneft according to international reporting standards for the next two years did not exceed this amount.
Then it was the turn of "Leader" - the largest management company in the country. 75% of its shares went to new owners for 880 million rubles, and already in the next year, 2006, the company earned 1.2 billion rubles in net profit. But the point is not even that the investments paid off in just a year: Gazprom, like a Christmas tree, decorated its management company with interesting assets. At the time of the transaction, Leader was listed as a shareholder of Gazprombank with a 43% stake. Formally, "Leader" acted only as a representative of "Gazfond", the ultimate beneficiary of this package. But although Gazfond was established by Gazprom and its subsidiaries, according to the charter, its owners do not have rights to the property contributed to the fund, the Criminal Code manages everything. Gazprombank is a real “pantry” of non-core assets for the gas monopoly: here is a controlling stake in the Gazprom-Media holding, and the flagships of the nuclear industry Atomstroyexport and United Machine-Building Plants, and the “Russian BASF” - the giant of the domestic petrochemistry Sibur, and more recently, Stroytransgaz, Russia's largest pipeline builder... In the end, Gazprom admitted that it no longer controlled its settlement bank. At the shareholders' meeting in June, Gazprom nominated only five out of twelve people to the board of directors of Gazprombank.
The distribution of property was striking in its simplicity. “I and a few other hotheads proposed the reform of Gazprom. And they answered us: let's better sell non-core assets. Here, people like me usually wilted,” recalls politician Vladimir Milov. In 2002, he worked as Deputy Minister of Energy, then as the head of the analytical group at the Center for Strategic Research close to the Ministry of Economic Development. "According to" Sogaz "after presidential elections the final decision was made - to approve the sale to a strategic investor ... Putin said: Rossiya Bank, and that's it. Gref, Sharonov (Minister of Economic Development, who was on the board of directors of Gazprom, and his first deputy, who was in charge of the budgets of monopolies. - Forbes), and other guys were amazed. It also outraged me, ”says Milov. “Putin never personally interferes in the activities of any companies. Any decisions, including on Sogaz, were made by shareholders within the framework of existing corporate procedures, ”Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin, answered a Forbes request.
Stories with the former "daughters" of "Gazprom" have one thing in common. They ended up under the control of Rossiya Bank, whose largest shareholder (30.4%) is Yuri Kovalchuk. Today, Rossiya manages assets with a total value of more than $15 billion. In addition to industrial and financial companies, the Russians control a serious political resource - the largest media holding in Russia of three TV channels (NTV, REN TV, Petersburg - Channel 5) and newspaper "Izvestia".
The general public first heard about Kovalchuk in February 2004, when presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin addressed voters from the pages of Kommersant: “I have a lot of concrete evidence of Putin's involvement in business. The famous Abramovich, Timchenko's shadow, the Kovalchuk brothers and others are in charge of Putin's business." Putin was successfully re-elected for a second term, Rybkin did not publish any evidence. The disgraced Boris Berezovsky, who sponsored Rybkin's campaign, says he doesn't know what facts the candidate had in mind.
Where did one of the most successful businessmen of Putin's eight years come from?
Yura Kovalchuk had everything necessary for a successful career in the Land of the Soviets. Grandfather, Ukrainian peasant, before October Revolution worked at one of the St. Petersburg factories. Father is a historian, doctor of sciences, author of hundreds of scientific papers, mainly on the blockade of Leningrad. The third generation of "St. Petersburg" Kovalchuks, Yuri and his older brother Mikhail (now the director of the Kurchatov Institute, the main propagandist of nanotechnologies), entered the physics department of Leningrad State University. Yuri studied better.
“He was a handsome young man, girls fell on him,” recalls Kovalchuk’s classmate Tatyana Borisova. “The boy comes from a good family, plays sports and all that.” At the age of 28, Kovalchuk defended his Ph.D., at 35 - his doctorate. After Leningrad State University, he got a job at the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute. A. F. Ioffe. Specialized in lasers and semiconductors. Kovalchuk's department was headed by the future Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov. In 1987, Alferov became director of the institute. Two years later, 36-year-old Kovalchuk became his first deputy.
Together with Kovalchuk, several people worked at the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology, who went with him through life after the collapse of the USSR. For example, Andrey Fursenko, now the Minister of Education and Science (his younger brother Sergey today oversees the media business of Rossiya Bank). The Fursenko and Kovalchuk families knew each other well. The recently deceased Alexander Fursenko, the father of the brothers, worked together with Valentin Kovalchuk (father of Yuri and Mikhail) in the Leningrad branch of the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences; a connoisseur of modern US history, he was in good standing in the Leningrad Regional Committee. In 1987, Andrei Fursenko became deputy director of the Institute. Ioffe. A little earlier, in 1982-1985, the "foreign department" of the PTI was headed by the future president of the "Russian railways» Vladimir Yakunin.
The newly minted deputy directors of the Physicotechnical Institute were in a hurry to take advantage of the opportunities that perestroika opened up for quick-witted people. “Kovalchuk tried to organize a unit that would deal with practical developments,” recalls Academician Yuri Osipyan, who opposed him at the defense of his doctoral dissertation. Kovalchuk and Fursenko organized several scientific and technical firms around the institute. But the main source of income was the trade in computers. The director didn't like it. “Alferov was told: the firms are in the interests of the institute. Well, then, closer to 1991, it turned out that everything went into the pocket of the founders,” says Vladimir Pribylovsky, author of several works about Putin and his entourage. “As a result, Alferov kicked out Kovalchuk, Fursenko and Myachin (an employee of the Physicotechnical Institute, who will also work in Russia. - Forbes).” “Yes, there was a conflict, but I would not like to go into it,” confirms Osipyan. Alferov did not comment on his relationship with a former employee. Kovalchuk declined to be interviewed for this article.
In another time and for another person, expulsion from a great science and an institute where a brilliant career has developed would be a tragedy. But not for Kovalchuk. In 1991, he already had a new roof over his head.
Early 1990s. St. Petersburg, German restaurant "Seagull". Bog wood on the walls, models of old ships everywhere, the steering wheel in a conspicuous place. The smoky room is full of people. People in suits are quietly talking about something at tables in cozy niches. In one of the companies - not the last St. Petersburg official, the head of the city committee for external relations. “Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] regularly visited [the restaurant],” recalls Alexander Tomashevich, a former director of Chaika. “We had decent beer from Germany and German sausages ... He came alone or with some of his friends.”
Established in 1987, the restaurant was one of the first Leningrad enterprises with the participation of foreign capital. The co-owner of the joint venture was Tchaika GmbH, owned by three German restaurateurs. By the early 1990s, the place had become a favorite hangout for those who could spend more than $20 a night. At first, the restaurant was a foreign exchange restaurant, and the traders had to pretend to be foreigners in order to get inside. “When we started working for rubles, Chaika became a platform where everyone gathered. There was nowhere to stand,” says Tomashevich. According to him, members of the newly created Association of Joint Ventures of Leningrad (LenASP), which included Chaika, often met in the institution.
LenASP was an influential structure. A romantic of capitalism, Mayor Anatoly Sobchak wanted to protect the "new economy" from bureaucratic arbitrariness and red tape. In 1994, at the initiative of the association, an interdepartmental commission for enterprises with foreign investment was created in the mayor's office, headed by Putin. “Getting into City Hall was pretty easy. There were always a lot of people in Putin's waiting room. Igor Sechin (Putin's secretary at that time - Forbes) only had time to regulate it all. There were no problems in communication and support,” recalls Gennady Volodchenko. In the past, the head of the sector of the Leningrad Regional Committee, he became the director of the association.
“We all wanted to “crawl” under power so that they would listen to us. They reported their problems. And Putin at that time was just very accessible and understood everything well. In personal meetings, he never puffed out his cheeks ... He helped associations, ”recalls Tomashevich. The first president of the association was Vladimir Kolovay, general director of the Proletarskaya Pobeda shoe factory, who created a joint venture with the German Salamander. But the "soul" of the association was not Kolovay, and not Volodchenko, but Yuri Kovalchuk. “He was the “brain” of our team, he generated all the ideas,” says Volodchenko. In the rank of deputy president of the LenASP, Kovalchuk was responsible for contacts with Sobchak and Putin.
Kovalchuk met Putin, apparently, precisely through his work at LenASP. At the very beginning of the 1990s, Putin was an assistant to the rector of Leningrad State University for international affairs. In the summer of 1991, Leningrad State University registered a joint venture with Procter & Gamble, from which the transnational giant began its expansion in the Russian market. According to Pribylovsky, Putin was directly involved in the creation of the joint venture, which immediately joined the association. After Sobchak's victory in the mayoral elections in June 1991, Putin moved to the mayor's office as chairman of the FAC.
Members of the LenASP paid 15,000 German marks a year to participate in the association. “We worked off our money,” Volodchenko is convinced. It was believed that the access to the Smolny, which was provided by the organization, was more than worth the cost. Kovalchuk, for example, after a year of work in LenASP, a bank appeared with the loud name "Russia".
“Russia” Kovalchuk and his partners received, one might say, from the hands of Putin. This credit institution was established in 1990 with the money of the Communist Party. The administration of the affairs of the Leningrad Regional Committee, headed by Arkady Krutikhin, opened settlement accounts there and became the main shareholder of the bank. To "finance the activities of the central party organs," the Leningrad comrades knocked out 50 million rubles for "Russia" from the reserve fund of the CPSU. Along with the regional committee, its founders were the insurance company "Rus" (in 2002, State Duma deputy Vladislav Reznik sold a controlling stake in "Rus" for $ 10 million) and the association "Russian Video", which, in order to contribute its share of 13 million rubles, took them in debt from the same obkom. "Russia" became one of hundreds of enterprises used by party financiers to withdraw money from the CPSU. After the failure of the August putsch, the scheme collapsed. Krutikhin's boss, Nikolai Kruchina, fell out of the window of his apartment. The President of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin issued a decree on the nationalization of the property of the CPSU.
On September 2, 1991, Sobchak ordered to take control of the money and property of "Russia", and at the same time work out the issue of creating a fund based on the bank with the participation of foreign investors, the main purpose of which would be "stabilizing the economy of the Leningrad region." Responsible - Putin. Putin could report on the fulfillment of the task in three months. The fund was indeed created, but not on the basis of, but with the participation of "Russia", which in December 1991, that is, during external management from the mayor's office, changed owners. The place of the Leningrad regional committee and firms associated with its leadership was taken by companies associated with Kovalchuk, the Fursenko brothers, Yakunin and Viktor Myachin.
Proximity to power was emphasized by the location: "Russia" was given a wing of the Smolny. There were other pleasant surprises as well. For several months, until March 1992, 50 million rubles requisitioned from the CPSU "spun" in "Russia". And in February 1992, Sobchak ordered to accumulate in "Russia" the proceeds from the sale of European humanitarian aid. In the future, the funds were to go to support farmers. Leningrad region. According to Oleg Goncharov, the former director of Lenkhleboprodukt (this structure was involved in the implementation of assistance), 69 million rubles have accumulated in the bank. Farmers got much less. “We spent 76,000 rubles on loans to farmers,” says Vladimir Antonov, executive director of the St. Petersburg to Farmers association. “Sixty-nine million? There is some kind of mistake here, in those days there was no such money, ”he is perplexed. City Council deputies sent an inquiry to the mayor's office about the fate of the proceeds from the sale of humanitarian aid. The case was put on hold.
Kovalchuk did not abandon high technologies either. After the conflict with Alferov, most of the employees of the firms created by Kovalchuk and Fursenko moved to the territory of the Svetlana plant. The main activity was concentrated in CJSC Semiconductor Devices. Its shares were distributed among companies associated with Rossiya. The company specialized in the production of laser equipment for medicine. The business is not big, but not hopeless either: in 1995, for example, the company exported $400,000 worth of equipment.
It was not without the support of the city here. In 1992, the mayor's office created Regional Fund scientific and technological development. "Russia" was among its co-founders, Andrey Fursenko headed the new structure. The main project of the fund was an innovation center on the territory of Svetlana. The Foundation helped renovate one of the buildings, which housed scientific and technical firms that received benefits from local taxes and utility bills. The largest residents of the center were firms associated with Rossiya. Here is an illustrative example: in July 1997, the Fursenko Foundation received a budget loan of 1.5 billion rubles (about $260,000 at the then exchange rate) under guarantees from Rossiya. And already in February of the following year, the fund, along with a dozen other organizations, was exempted from obligations to return funds by a special city law.
In the first half of the nineties, Rossiya's business was built on good relations with local authorities. Forms of earnings - management of the financial affairs of the city administration, participation in socially significant projects subsidized from the budget. By the standards of that time, it was a very intimate business, almost invisible against the general background.
“Just a small bank, according to the balance sheets it was clear that it could not do anything big,” recalls one of the St. Petersburg entrepreneurs, who asked not to be named in the press. — At that time we had Severo-Trading Bank, BaltONEXIM, Inkombank. The same Viking, the bank of Mikhail Mirilashvili (serving time for organizing the murder. - Forbes) was much larger. The only reason for which Kovalchuk is mentioned in the St. Petersburg press of that time is his appointment as an honorary consul of Thailand.
How did this non-public, almost imperceptible against the background of the heroes of the 1990s, win over the future head of state?
“Contact, quickly grasps. Very specific, does not like to talk, immediately takes the bull by the horns, ”Academician Osipyan speaks about Kovalchuk. “He has a sense of humor,” Volodchenko, the former director of LenASP, adds to the portrait of Kovalchuk. “Knows a lot of anecdotes.” He readily recalls how, in the early 1990s, the leaders of the association and Rossiya Bank met in informal setting. Vitaly Savelyev, who worked for a couple of years as the chairman of the board of Rossiya (now he is the first vice president of AFK Sistema), had a yacht. On it, the whole company sailed along the Gulf of Finland, arranged evenings. Volodchenko says that former LenASP colleagues, including Kovalchuk, still keep in touch with each other.
The ability to make friends is not the only distinguishing quality of Kovalchuk. The people from "Russia" definitely have a sense of the future. Even in the early 1990s, when everything seemed to be going to hell, they were not too lazy to work for the future. The former general director of OMZ Sergey Lipsky, who lost his job after the company was taken over by the "Russians", studied at Leningrad University in the early nineties. “Bank Rossiya played a super positive role,” he recalls. - At their expense, seminars were held for students, a kind of labor exchange. Their chairman of the board, Savelyev, is very intelligent, and spoke there several times.” And in 2000, Rossiya established the North-West Center for Strategic Research, also for designing the future.
We are all tired. It's time to stop and understand who we are, ”Kovalchuk said at the presentation of the CSR in November 2000. After Sobchak's defeat in the elections and Putin's departure for Moscow, the owners of Rossiya had reason to be despondent. The new mayor Vladimir Yakovlev did not offend his predecessor's acquaintances, he just had his own acquaintances for business. While oligarchic oil and metallurgical empires were being built in the capital, the business of Rossiya's shareholders could be described in one word - "vegetation".
But a ray of light, no, no, yes, and it will shine even in the very dark kingdom. Between the summer of 1996 and Putin's coming to power three years later, two important events took place in the life of "Russians". Firstly, Kovalchuk, Yakunin, the brothers Fursenko and Myachin, together with Putin, became co-founders of the Ozero dacha cooperative, acquired country houses on the shores of Komsomolskoye Lake, a hundred kilometers from St. Petersburg. We entered, so to speak, into the inner circle of the future president. Secondly, at the end of 1997, the “old” owners of Rossiya formalized relations with a serious partner: a Finnish company IPP, associated with the Kinex oil trading group, acquired a 20% stake in the bank, and Andrey Katkov, a representative of Kinex, headed the board of directors of the bank.
Patience and perseverance paid off. According to Volodchenko, Putin and Kovalchuk had friendly relations in the 1990s. “They have known each other since Vladimir Putin worked in St. Petersburg,” confirms Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the prime minister. “Today they don’t communicate so often due to Putin’s busy work schedule.” One-turn access to the new president turned out to be an overvalued asset for Kovalchuk.
In the summer of 2003, Aleksey Mordashov's Severstal placed $20 million in Russia for an annual deposit at 1%. The following year, the steelmakers paid this amount for a 9% stake in Rossiya, the bank's business was valued at $ 220 million, or 11.5 capital, despite the fact that even at the height of the banking boom, no one paid more than 5 capital for Russian credit organizations. And last year, Surgutneftegaz bought preference shares in Rossiya for 1.1 billion rubles. Surgut received 7 million rubles in dividends on these prefs. Profitability - 0.6% per annum. "Severstal" and "Surgut" helped the "Russians" to buy out the television company "REN TV" from RAO UES.
In the matter of collecting money and assets, the owners of "Rossiya", perhaps, will not yield to the oligarchs of Yeltsin's call. But unlike the latter, the "Russians" do not delve into the business of the companies that they got. At most, they connect them to their social network. Sogaz, as it was a captive insurer, has remained so. But now, in addition to Gazprom, which accounted for 60% of the collected premium in 2006, it insures Rosneft, Russian Railways, and nuclear industry enterprises. Kovalchuk does not interfere in the work of TV channels either. Leading "newsmen" of "REN TV" will not remember the instructions regarding the content and tone of the programs that would come from the new owners. There are no “black lists” on the channel either: the same Milov and his co-author, former leader of the SPS party Boris Nemtsov, presented on the air of REN TV a study on dubious deals of the Putin era. It was also about the strange operations in which "Russia" was involved.
Does the Russian business empire have a future in the post-Putin era? De jure, the Rossiya Bank group includes only two large companies, Sogaz and Leader, and a number of less significant assets in real estate and finance. The main asset of "Leader" is a share in Gazprombank with its collection of industrial assets, but there will be no trace of control, it costs the legal owner - "Gazfond" - to change the management company. Meanwhile, the redistribution of former Gazprom property continues. Sibur is being prepared for sale to its managers, the future of Gazprombank should be clear by the end of the year, control over “nuclear” enterprises is formalized through a chain of offshore companies - their owners can change at any time without any publicity. Maybe the owners of "Rossiya" do not interfere in the work of their companies because control over them is entrusted to them only for a while?
The former director of LenASP Volodchenko has a small business: he sells watches. “We met with Kovalchuk about two years ago,” says the businessman. “He used to really like Rado. Now he probably wears Breguet or Patek Philippe.”
Kovalchuk Yuri Valentinovich was born on July 25, 1951 in Leningrad in the family of a Soviet historian of Ukrainian origin Valentin Mikhailovich Kovalchuk. There is an older brother, now the president of the Kurchatov Institute.
Education
In 1974 he graduated from the Faculty of Physics of the Leningrad State University.
In 1985 he received a doctorate in physical and mathematical sciences.
Labor activity
In 1987-1991 - First Deputy Director of the Physico-Technical Institute. Ioffe of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
From February 1991, he served as Deputy Chairman of the Board (Vice President) of the Association of Joint Ventures of St. Petersburg. In 1991, he headed the Center for Advanced Technologies and Developments.
Since November 2000, he has been Chairman of the Board of the St. Petersburg Public Foundation "Center for Strategic Research "North-West".
Since June 2005 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rossiya Bank.
In 2008, with his participation, the National Media Group was created, which includes a number of major Russian TV channels. It is headed by the businessman's nephew.
On March 20, 2014, it fell under US financial and visa sanctions, the Rossiya Bank was also included in the sanctions list.
The key shareholder of Rossiya Bank, as of December 2017, holds 37.512% of the shares of the credit institution. One of the founders and chairman of the advisory board of the joint-stock company "ABR Management".
Awards and titles
Honorary Consul General of the Kingdom of Thailand in St. Petersburg.
Included in the top 200 richest Russian businessmen according to the Forbes magazine rating. In 2011, he was in 65th place with a fortune of $1.5 billion, in 2014 he was in 71st line ($1.4 billion). In 2015-2016, his fortune was estimated at $650 million and $500 million (132nd and 162nd places, respectively), and in the ranking published in 2017, he is on the 93rd line with a capital of $1 billion.
Family
There is a son, Boris, currently he is the Chairman of the Board of PJSC Inter RAO.
Member of the Board of the Foundation "Center for Strategic Research "North-West"
Chairman of the Advisory Board of Shareholders of Joint Stock Bank "RUSSIA"
Honorary Consul General of the Kingdom of Thailand in St. Petersburg
Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
Married, has a son.
Sphere of professional interests
Author of more than 100 scientific papers and inventions, specialist in solid state physics and semiconductor technology. Laureate of the USSR State Prize in the field of science and technology (1988). He was awarded the Order of the Crown of Thailand III degree and the Order of Friendship.
Education
- In 1974 he graduated from the Faculty of Physics of the Leningrad State University, then full-time postgraduate studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
- In 1985 he defended his doctoral dissertation and received the degree of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
Professional experience
- From 1977 to 1988 he worked scientific work at the Physical-Technical Institute named after A.F. Ioffe Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
- From 1988 to 1991 - First Deputy Director of the Institute. In 1991, he became president of the Center for Advanced Technologies and Developments.
- Yuri Kovalchuk is one of the initiators of the creation of the Center for Strategic Research "North-West" Foundation and has been the head of its Board since the Foundation was founded in 2000. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Joint Stock Bank "RUSSIA".
- From 2005 to 2012 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Joint Stock Bank ROSSIYA.
- Since June 2012 — Chairman of the Advisory Council of Shareholders of Joint Stock Bank ROSSIYA.
- Since 1996 - Honorary Consul General of the Kingdom of Thailand in St. Petersburg.
Publications
Results of the power industry reform in the Russian Federation
The publication was prepared with the assistance of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation as part of the project “Results of the reform of the electric power industry in Russia”, during which 78 experts were interviewed - executives of generating companies, authorities, grid and distribution companies, industry infrastructure, research institutes and think tanks, whose interviews are easy to form the basis of this information publication. As part of the preparation of this publication, the experts of the North-West Center for Strategic Research Foundation analyzed the prerequisites for launching the reform, the current state of the industry, including the results achieved and the range of unresolved problems, trends in the technological development of the electric power industry and the next steps in the development of the industry - as seen by the expert community. 26.89 MBBillionaire Yuri Kovalchuk evicts Channel Five to take up a development project? There is already a helipad for the billionaire on the channel's purchased building.
Channel Five from St. Petersburg, which is federal, will no longer produce well-known programs that have repeatedly won prestigious TEFI prizes. Now there will be no "Fifth" at all, its employees will be partially fired or they will switch to the new channel "78", created by the NMG group (owned by Kovalchuk).
This was reported by the correspondent of UtroNews. Interestingly, the channel was profitable. In 2015 alone, the revenue was 6 billion rubles, and the net profit was 860 million rubles.
Such successful television projects are not closed if there is no hidden interest. After all, apart from money, "Fifth" was in fourth place in the Russian media rating. And this interest is quite simple - the property of the "Fifth" in the amount of 4 hectares on Chapygina Street (city center).
Negotiations are already underway between the oligarch and the owner of Rossiya Bank, Yuri Kovalchuk. It should be noted that Kovalchuk bought one of the Fifth buildings back in 2012. What for? There is already a helipad and a chic office of Mr. Kovalchuk. Sources say that the oligarch used the rest of the property for a development project - luxury real estate and restaurants.
As we have already reported, the channel will most likely not have its own projects. With the exception of the "Stories from the Future" program, which is run by the oligarch's brother, Mikhail Kovalchuk.
Who is Kovalchuk?
In the 90s, he, Mr. Kovalchuk, was able to register several offices, as they say, not without the help of his friends from the government. What are the companies? They traded computers and settled down at the Physico-Technical Institute, where Kovalchuk was deputy director. As they say, he did not pay rent.
At the institute, Kovalchuk became friends with Andrei Fursenko and Vladimir Yakunin, future high-ranking Russian officials.
Interestingly, the head of the institute was the famous Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov, who, having learned about the activities of his subordinate, kicked him out. After that, Kovalchuk met and became friends with another future oligarch, Gennady Timchenko.
As they say, thanks to his friends in power, Kovalchuk also received his now main asset - Rossiya Bank. This was the beginning of a long and fruitful cooperation between the future billionaire and the authorities. "Kompromat.ru" writes that the "Leningrad comrades" knocked out 50 million rubles for "Russia" from the Reserve Fund of the CPSU.
And then Kovalchuk furiously began to buy up assets: the Sogaz insurer, the National Media Group, the shares of such giants as Severstal CJSC, Surgutneftegaz OJSC, Sibur Holding, the Gazfond pension fund, Gazprom Media, "National Telecommunications" and many others. Where does the money come from? The security forces were never interested ...
It got to the point that "The Kovalchuks, together with Timchenko, controlled the financial flows of Sovcomflot and the Novorossiysk Shipping Company, and even were the" owners "of the main department of the Bank of Russia (Central Bank) for St. Petersburg," wrote journalist Ivan Rybkin, whose texts are still on the forums .
"Dear distant ...".
Mr. Kovalchuk continued to do his business, as they say, using his connections. You are aware that there is such a company as "Platon", controlled by the Rotenberg family. But there is another wonderful scheme. There is such a bypass road in Odintsovo "The company built the road there" the main road"(controlled by Leader Management Company), in turn owned by Kovalchuk. Its operator is the United Toll Collection Systems (USSP), a subsidiary of Mostotrest, which is controlled by the Rotenbergs.
In other words, not only the Rotenbergs collect money from the Russians, but also their friend Kovalchuk.
Leningrad Rhapsody.
Kovalchuk's hometown of Leningrad, the billionaire also, so to speak, "did not bypass the road." In 2016, Smolny published Decree No. 752. This document amends Decree No. 1374 of 2007 "On the procedure for placing St. Petersburg budget funds on bank deposits." This was done in order to remove the requirement to have a high international long-term credit rating by Fitch Rating, Standard & Poor's or Moody's. Only in such a bank it was possible to store city money.
But Governor Georgy Poltavchenko doesn't seem to care much about the St. Petersburg budget. After all, since 2016, the money had to go to the Rossiya bank. No, there is no corruption scheme to be seen here. But think about it, the mayor deliberately underestimated the requirements for banks and immediately transferred the funds to "Russia" after that. Is there a rational explanation for this? It would be good for the supervisory authorities from Moscow to check this incident.
Another interesting incident occurred in 2015, when the law on competition was violated in St. Petersburg during tenders for 1 billion rubles. The winner in the togas was the Buer company, tied, as they say not only with Kovalchuk, and his friend Vasily Golubev, as The Moscow Post wrote. The same publication wrote that Kovalchuk actually saved his friend's business.
Friendship with state companies.
It is interesting that in 2012, Kovalchuk's structures sold to VEB and Gazprom the companies previously acquired from them for a "symbolic price" with a "margin" of 2 billion rubles, as Ruspres wrote. And again, the security forces were not interested in this incident.
Brother for brother."
Probably, just like money, Kovalchuk loves his brother Mikhail, whose program remained on TV. Recall that in March of this year, the famous scientist and president of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Fortov was squeezed out of his post. The election of a new head of the organization has been postponed. But some scientists rebelled, because Fortov was supposed to be re-elected. On the sidelines, they began to say that the authorities want to put Mikhail Kovalchuk in charge, RBC wrote.
Then the deputy head of the Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Mikhail Gelfand, said that academician Panchenko was behind the scandalous story, "or rather, those people who stand behind him realized that they could not win in any way," our newspaper reported. Gelfand hinted that Mikhail Kovalchuk could be the "gray eminence".
Previously, Kovalchuk could not become the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences, he was categorically not supported by physicists, which he is. True, the situation improved: “at first, physicists in their department repeatedly rolled him (Kovalchuk), then the department of nanotechnologies and information technologies was specially reformatted, now he goes through the department very well, but fails at the general meeting,” RBC reported.
It seems that soon Kovalchuk will be "chosen" and he will be able to recall how Zhores Alferov kicked out his brother.
Returning to the topic of Channel Five. A successful TV channel is dispersed only by keeping the program of Mikhail Kovalchuk. It looks like Ilya Kovalchuk is planning to build a development project there. Whether the buildings will be affected is unknown. But in the event that the architectural heritage is destroyed, most likely the billionaires will not again have questions, as in previous situations ... Or before the elections, and against the backdrop of the fight against corruption, will the security forces finally check the cunning oligarch Kovalchuk?
