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Alexei Mordashov
Russian businessman (born 1965) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Alexey Alexandrovich Mordashov (Russian: Алексей Александрович Мордашов; born 26 September 1965) is a Russian businessman. He is the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal,[1] Russia's largest steel and mining company.[2]
As of 2025, he is the wealthiest man in Russia with an estimated personal net worth at US$30.5 billion.[3] In the Forbes 2025 ranking, which takes into account the assets of the whole family, Mordashov ranks first among Russian billionaires (US$30.5B).[4] When he was 37, Forbes ordained him (along with Oprah) as a "new arrival" in the world of billionaires.[5]
Mordashov was mentioned in the Panama Papers and FinCEN files leaks – a company associated with Mordashov paid for a number of Vladimir Putin's pet projects and gave generously to close Putin associates.[6][7][8]
He is under sanctions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[2] According to the EU, Rossiya Bank, in which Mordashov owns a financial stake, is the "personal bank" of the senior officials who benefitted from the annexation of Crimea.[2] In November 2023, the New York Times reported as part of the Cyprus Confidential leak that accounts connected to him paid Hubert Seipel, a German author, to write a book about Putin.[9]
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Early life
Mordashov is the son of Russian parents, who were both steel mill workers.[10] His father was electrical engineer at the mill in Cherepovets.[11] According to Mordashov, his family used welfare coupons, allowed only 200g of butter and 400g of sausages per month.[12] He graduated with a bachelor's and master's degree in engineering from the Leningrad Engineering-Economical Institute, currently known as ENGECON. He later gained an MBA from Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 2001.[13] In an address to students at the European University at Saint Petersburg, Mordashov spoke about his decision to study in Leningrad rather than Moscow and the value his undergraduate studies played in his search for employment and eventual career path.[14] Returning to Cherepovets, he started his career by joining the same steel plant where his parents had worked.[15]
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Career
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Early career
In 1988 Mordashov joined 'Cherepovetskiy Metallurgical Plant' after graduation from Leningrad Engineering-Economical Institut as an economist. In December 1991, the Soviet Union dissoluted. By 1992 he became finance director, shortly before the company was privatised.[16] When the plant's elderly director instructed him to acquire shares to keep them out of the hands of an outsider, he formed two investment funds and, by buying up workers' shares, built a major stake in the factory.[10] In 1996 he was appointed as CEO of the company. He went on to build a conglomerate, Severstal, acquiring steel, coal and mining companies.[17]
Investments
In 2000, the Putin regime came to power. In 2003, Mordashov became a co-owner of Rossiya Bank.[18][19]
In 2004, Mordashov started investing in US steel companies, purchasing companies in Dearborn, MI and Columbus, Mississippi. The acquisition included the Rouge Plant in Dearborn.[20][21] He received a loan from the United States Department of Energy to renovate and refurbish the manufacturing plants in Dearborn.[22] The value of the loan, over $370 million, was revoked in 2012, after growing political tensions between the US and Russia.
Between 2004 and 2014, Mordashov and Severstal invested up to $3 billion in both the Dearborn and Columbus plants.[23] In 2011 he sold a number of US assets in Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia to the Renco Group, owned by industrialist Ira Rennert.[24] By 2014 all of Severstal's US investments had been sold for a total of $2.3 billion.[25][26]
His company Severstal planned a multibillion-dollar project in joint venture with POSCO in eastern India. After ten years of not getting environmental and land clearances, his company opted out in 2008.[27][28]
In autumn 2007, Mordashov purchased shares in TUI Travel.[29] As he increased his stake to the largest single shareholder through his S-Group Travel,[30] TUI Travel under Michael Frenzel[31] expanded into Eastern Europe and Russia in 2008,[30][31] China and India in 2009,[31] and sold off its shipping interests, Hapag-Lloyd AG,[32] to the Albert Ballin Consortium in March 2009.[33] In 2014, he held a blocking stake of more than 25% in TUI Travel when TUI Travel was absorbed by TUI Group.[34] In October 2018, he had a 24.9% stake[35] in TUI Group through his S-Group Travel and has been on the TUI Group supervisory board since 2016.[36]
In 2008, Mordashov, Surgutneftegas and Rossiya Bank created the National Media Group, which owned packages in TV channels (Fifth, First, REN TV).[37]
In April 2010, the structures of the Yuri Kovalchuk associated Rossiya Bank, Surgutneftegas and the owner of Severstal Alexei Mordashov gained ownership of a 45% stake of the largest seller of TV advertising in Eastern Europe and Russia, where it controlled 70% of the Russian market in 2007, the "Video International" group (Russian: группа «Видео Интернешнл») from the widow of Yuri Zapol (Russian: Юрий Запол), who was a founder of Video International in 1987, and Vladimir Golubev (Russian: Владимир Голубев) who together owned the largest stakes.[38][39][40][a][c]
In 2011, Mordashov purchased 25% of the shares in steam turbine manufacturer, Power Machines, from Siemens.[51] In 2013, with partner Yuri Kovalchuk, Mordashov bought 50% of Tele2 Russia, the country's 4th largest mobile phone operator.[52]
In 2012, Mordashov consolidated Severstal's gold mining assets into one company, Nord Gold N.V.[53][54][55] The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: NORD LI).[56] In 2013, Nord Gold was awarded a license to embark on gold exploration in Siberia.[57][58] In 2017 Mordashov announced plans to delist Nordgold[59] from the London Stock Exchange (LSE)[60] citing unfair valuation as the reason. The LSE requires that companies have at least 25% as free float, while Mordashov owns 91% of the company.[61]
In October 2012, Mordashov was elected as chairman of the World Steel Association.[62] In 2011, he was the only Russian participant in a meeting of Bilderberg Club at St Moritz, Switzerland.[63]
In June 2013, Mordashov was the fifth largest shareholder of Rossiya Bank owning 6%.[64]
In 2015, Mordashov stepped down as CEO, appointing former COO Vadim Larin in his place.[65] Mordashov would be appointed as chairman.[66][67] The changes were confirmed by Severstal.[68]
On 10 October 2017 Mordashov became a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
Sanctions
On 28 February 2022, in relation to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union blacklisted Mordashov and had all his assets frozen.[69][70] In early March, the Italian police seized one of his yachts, the Lady M.[71] At that time, another one of his yachts, the Nord, was outside the European Unions jurisdiction in the Seychelles.[72]
He was sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 in relation to the Russo-Ukrainian War.[73]
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Pandora Papers
The Pandora Papers were a collection of nearly 12 million leaked confidential financial records compiled by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Within those records are details of how a special unit known as "Cypriot" within accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) helped Mordashov "build the offshore infrastructure of his business empire." The firm helped set up over 65 shell companies in various "secrecy jurisdictions" such as the British Virgin Islands on behalf of a holding company connected to Mordashov. Through these shell companies, Mordashov expanded his presence in the logging, coal, and media industries inside Russia.[5]
Personal life
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Mordashov and his first wife Elena (sometimes Yelena) have a son, Ilya, and divorced in 1996.[74][75]
In 2001, it was revealed in a St Petersburg divorce court that he was paying only $620 a month to support his ex-wife and son,[74] when she sued him for half of his pre-divorce property but lost the case and incurred large fees.[76][77] The case was eventually settled after she took it to the European Court of Human Rights.[78]
As of 2021, Mordashov owns the yachts Lady M and Nord and a private jet.[2]
By 2001, Mordashov had married his second wife, also Elena, and had had two more sons - Kirill and Nikita.[75][79]
In 2018–2019, for Kirill and Nikita the KN-holding company was created, to which Mordashov transferred his shares in Nordgold and TUI. In this way, he hoped to transfer business experience to his sons. But in 2021, Nikita lost his share due to unsuccessful studies and leaving for military service.[80]
In 2022, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reported that Mordashov transferred most of his ownership stake in tourism conglomerate TUI to a Caribbean shell company controlled by Marina Mordashova who is reportedly the mother of some of his children.[81]
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See also
Notes
- As of 31 December 2004, the other co-owners of the "Video International (VI)" group (Russian: группа «Видео Интернешнл») were Yuri Zapol (Russian: Юрий Заполь) with a 33% stake that, after his death in 2005, passed to his widow Galina, Hovhannes Sobolev (Russian: Оганес Соболев) with a 13.5% stake, Alexander Gurevich (Russian: Александр Витальевич Гуревич) with a 3.75% stake, Vladimir Perepelkin (Russian: Владимир Владимирович Перепелкин) with a 3.75% stake, Elizaveta Akopova (Russian: Елизавета Акопова) with a 1.875% stake, Maxim Boyko (Russian: Максим Владимирович Бойко) with a 5.625% stake, Elena Lukyanova (Russian: Елена Лукьянова) with a 1.875% stake, Anatoly Novikov (Russian: Анатолий Новиков) with a 5.625% stake, and Cypriot Grosora Holdings Ltd (Russian: "Гросора Холдингс Лтд") with a 12.5% stake and Fioto Holdings Ltd (Russian: "Финото Холдингс Лтд") with a 12.5% stake. As of 25 June 2010, 100% of the parent company Video International Group of Companies is owned by the structures of Rossiya Bank, Surgutneftegaz and Alexei Mordashov and, in the authorized capital of OJSC Joint-Stock Bank Rossiya, which was reported in the first quarter of 2010, the OJSC Surgutneftegaz owns almost a 6.6% stake and the CJSC Severgroup, which was the CJSC Severstal Group until 2009 and the beneficiary of which is Alexei Mordashov, owns a 6.7% stake. The general director and former owner with a 6% stake of VI was Sergey Vasilyev, also transliterated as Vasiliev (Russian: Сергей Васильев). At the end of May 2010, ABRos Investments Company LLC (Russian: ООО "Инвестиционная компания "Аброс""), SOGAZ OJSC (Russian: ОАО СОГАЗ) and the largest management company in Russia in terms of assets Leader CJSC (Russian: ЗАО "Лидер"),[41] all of which are affiliated with Rossiya Bank, gained a 45% stake in VI. Prior to Rossiya Bank gaining ownership of VI, nine persons were co-owners of VI.[42][43]
- In 1986, Alexander Akopov (Russian: Александр Завенович Акопов), who knew Mikhail Lesin from Moscow Engineering and Construction Institute (MISI), offered Lesin a position at the Panopticon Theater Studio (Russian: театра-студии «Паноптикум») as a financial manager. Later, Lesin was a co-founder of Video International and Alexander Akopov became a business associate of Leonard Blavatnik's and Blavatnik's Access Industries when Akopov was associated with the Amedia film company (Russian: Кинокомпания «Аме́диа»).[42][44][45]
- On 3 October 2014, Gazprom-Media under the direction of Mikhail Lesin[b] announced that Vi under the leadership of Sergey Vasiliev (Russian: Сергей Васильев), who was the CEO of the Video International group since 2003,[46] will be formed by combining the advertising sales of the "Video International" group (Russian: группа «Видео Интернешнл») with the advertising sales from four firms VGTRK, Channel One, Gazprom-Media Holding and National Media Group and that each of those five firms will own a 20% stake in the new firm "En Vi" (Russian: «Эн Виай») but Mikhail Lesin left Gazprom-Media on 18 December 2014 and the deal did not occur.[46][47][48][49][50] In January 2015, sales of all terrestrial TV channels, with the exception of NTV and TNT, which became part of Gazprom-Media, were transferred to the structures of the "old" Vi.[49] However, the National Advertising Alliance (NRA) (Russian: Национальный рекламный альянс) was formed in June 2016 with Hovhannes Sobolev, also transliterated as Oganes Sobolev, (Russian: Оганес Соболев) as CEO and without Sergey Vasiliev, who did not get along with Sobolev.[46][49] Previously, Sobolev was the deputy general director of Vi for a long time and supervised its international business. But after the change of owners Vi, he left the group and pursued his own projects including a project with former News Corp. executive Martin Pompadour in which they sent video content from the United States to China.[49] However, Sobolev left the NRA in April 2017 and Sergey Vasiliev was CEO of NRA from April 2017 until November 2018.[46][49]
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References
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