Oleg Deripaska is one of the richest people in the whole world, who is the country's "aluminum" tycoon, who built his empire in the early 90s. A successful entrepreneur joined a large-scale business thanks to his intelligence and ability to think strategically, which allowed him to bring the company he headed, Russian Aluminum, to the highest level and make it the largest aluminum producer in the whole world.

Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska was born on January 2, 1968 in the large Nizhny Novgorod city of Dzerzhinsk. The parents of the future billionaire were from Kuban and loved their son very much. But a year after Oleg’s birth, more grief occurred in the family - the head of the family and the father of the future “aluminum” tycoon, Vladimir, tragically died.

Left without support with a child in her arms, Deripaska’s mother was forced to work almost around the clock to put her son on his feet. Therefore, grandparents living in the Krasnodar region were involved in raising Oleg Vladimirovich. It was they, according to the billionaire’s recollections, who taught him strict discipline and the peculiarities of cultivating the land. Already at the age of 11, he worked as an assistant electrician at a factory to help his mother.

At school No. 2 in Ust-Labinsk, young Oleg Deripaska was one of the best students, who had no equal in mathematics and physics. He participated in all regional Olympiads in chemistry, mathematics and physics, where he showed absolute results among his peers. The future businessman fell just short of the gold medal, as his certificate included only a “B” in literature.

But the knowledge acquired at school was enough for Oleg Vladimirovich to easily enter the physics department at Moscow State University. At the university, Oleg Deripaska also established himself as the best student. Despite the fact that he often skipped lectures, he could immediately pass the most difficult exams in quantum electrodynamics with excellent marks.

In 1986, he interrupted his studies at the university and went to repay his debt to the Motherland in the ranks of the strategic missile forces. He completed his military service with the rank of senior sergeant, after which he returned to the university and graduated with honors. The future billionaire’s studies did not end there - after graduating from Moscow State University, he entered the Plekhanov Economic Academy and took several courses at the London School of Economics.

To keep up with the times, Deripaska paid special attention to self-education, for which he re-read a huge number of books that not only broadened the businessman’s horizons, but also had a significant impact on his future career and success.

Business

Oleg Deripaska implemented his first business project during his student years. Upon returning from the army, he and his classmates founded the Military Trade and Investment Company, which specialized in metals trading. He invested all the money he earned at VTIK in purchasing shares of the Sayanogorsk aluminum smelter in Khakassia and after four years he was able to become its majority owner.

In 1994, the businessman received the position of general director of this promising plant, which, thanks to the manager’s analytical mindset, became the leading enterprise of the Siberian Aluminum industrial group created by Deripaska.

Three years later, the group created by the “aluminum” tycoon became one of the 10 leading aluminum producers in the world, and the businessman himself continued to expand his assets. He bought shares of the Samara Metallurgical Company and Aviakor, which in Soviet times was a leading aviation enterprise that almost completely went bankrupt by the mid-90s.

Oleg Deripaska at the beginning of his career

In 1999, Oleg Deripaska received the post of vice-president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and in 2000 he became general director of the Russian Aluminum company, which included Sibneft and Siberian Aluminum.

A year later, the businessman registered a new investment company, Basic Element, which today is a leader in the Russian capital management market. Oleg Deripaska's "basic element" is represented in all key industries both in Russia and abroad. The assets of the industrial group include:

• largest Russian automaker "GAZ Group",
• leader of the Russian insurance market "Ingosstrakh",
• construction company Glavmosstroy,
• airport holding "BaselAero",
• as well as many other companies in mechanical engineering, mining and metallurgy, energy, construction, agribusiness, aviation, banking services, represented in many countries of the world.

Currently, more than 200 thousand people work at Basic Element enterprises. In 2008, the aluminum tycoon’s assets expanded with a blocking stake in the Norilsk Nickel company. He also intended to take control of the RussNeft oil company, but due to the fact that its previous management evaded paying taxes, the company's shares were arrested by the FAS, and the deal did not take place.

Charity

In addition to creating successful business projects, Oleg Deripaska is the founder and president of the largest charitable foundation, Volnoye Delo. As part of the organization, the billionaire implemented more than 500 charitable programs from his personal funds, spending almost 11 billion rubles on this. The businessman’s charity extends in many directions, namely culture and education, sports and health, spiritual revival, animal protection and integrated territorial development.

It provides support to St. Petersburg and Moscow universities, the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters, the Hermitage, Donskoy and Sretensky monasteries, as well as other centers of culture, education and spiritual life of citizens in more than 40 regions of Russia. Since 2004, Oleg Deripaska has sponsored an archaeological expedition in the Krasnodar region, into which he has invested more than $10 million over the past ten years.

In 2014, the Volnoe Delo Foundation opened a shelter for stray dogs in Sochi, which caused a positive response around the world among animal lovers. In the same year, the charity’s “portfolio” was expanded by sponsoring the JuniorSkills program, aimed at early career guidance for future schoolchildren.

Also in 2014, the businessman spent almost half a million dollars from his personal funds on the construction of the Olympic Village in Sochi, and his company invested about $1.5 million in the infrastructure of the international airport and seaport.

Personal life

The personal life of Oleg Deripaska has always been “under the radar” of society. Being an eligible bachelor in Russia, the billionaire attracted rumors of various kinds, since every public appearance with a girl caused a stormy reaction about his new romance. He was credited with love affairs with many famous ladies of the country, but all these “sensations” were stopped in 2001, when the businessman got married.

The chosen one of the “aluminum” tycoon was Polina Yumasheva, who is the daughter of the former head of the Russian Presidential Administration Valentin Yumashev, who in his second marriage married the youngest daughter of the former Russian President Tatyana Dyachenko. Oleg Deripaska was introduced to his future wife by his business partner. In the marriage, the billionaire had two children - Peter and Maria, who are still in school and live with their parents in Moscow.

Polina Deripaska is currently the head of the Forward Media Group holding, which was founded on the basis of the Ova-Press publishing house acquired by her husband. FMG published the magazines Hello!

In their free time from business, the Deripaska couple likes to spend time with their family. Purposeful and ambitious spouses provide each other with reliable support and support in the harsh world of business, which makes their marriage stronger and more indestructible. They managed to steadfastly survive several scandals and rumors of divorce that surfaced about their family - Oleg and Polina calmly proved to society their consistently good relationship, repeatedly making a statement that they were not going to get a divorce.

In addition to family and business, Oleg Deripaska enjoys reading and photography. Throughout his life, he engages in self-education and absorbs information in a “concentrated form.” For his feasible contribution to the development of the Russian economy, his “honorary piggy bank” is filled with many orders and awards, including the Order of Friendship, the Order, as well as the title of laureate of the “Patron of the Year of Culture” award.

State

Oleg Deripaska's fortune in 2015 was estimated at $6.2 billion, which placed him in 17th position in the ranking of the richest businessmen in Russia. In the world ranking of billionaires in 2015, he occupied 230th place, but in 2016 dropped to 813th. Moreover, in 2008, the “aluminum magnate”’s fortune was $28 billion, which allowed him to be the richest Russian and rank 40th among the world’s billionaires.

Somehow, there has been an unnatural amount of news lately about an entrepreneur who loves money and silence most of all.

Let's start with an anecdote. Good jokes lengthen life, although not in all countries.

A patient with syphilis and a drug addict are in prison. The patient's finger falls off, he picks it up and throws it behind bars. Then his hand falls off and he throws it away too. A leg falls off and he throws it out. The addict looks at this, takes a drag and slowly says:- And I see... pfft... you're slowly getting out of here!

Another Russian billionaire is about to radically change his life. , Oleg Deripaska was preparing to resign from his position as president of the En+ Group and Rusal holdings. Kommersant was the first to report this, then Newsru.com added the information. But neither here nor there can understand the decisions of the disgraced oligarch - it is not because of the porn scandal that he refuses to manage his main assets! Or maybe Oleg Vladimirovich really has “an explosion of his brain and everything else”?

The version that is accepted as the official one is simple - Deripaska has debugged everything in his corporations, they work like clockwork, so there is simply no need to waste his precious time on operational management. The oligarch reserves the seat of a non-executive director - a person with the right to command and without any responsibilities.

But as president, Deripaska could and did behave in exactly the same way. His word will still be the last, so why change anything?

The second version is a war between Vladimir Potanin’s Interros and Rusal for control of Norilsk Nickel. Funny are the rumors about the impending “Russian roulette” between the oligarchs - supposedly they will take turns buying out each other’s shares with a constant increase in rates. Some have already stocked up on popcorn. But Deripaska’s presence in the presidential or director’s chair will not affect this situation in any way.

A more realistic assumption seems to be Deripaska’s desire to distance himself from his own companies, whose shares are traded on international exchanges - after all, some not very smart person included him in the notorious “Kremlin list” of the US administration, and at any moment on certain aspects of Oleg Vladimirovich’s activities Substantial restrictions may be imposed. But as the main shareholder, he will still inevitably apply sanctions to his holdings.

Another version is the desire to change the vector of discussion of the oligarch’s person, to “kill” the flurry of publications about his connection with the so-called “ Nastya Rybka" It’s better to let them talk about personnel changes, about the “development of the GAZ group,” which Deripaska allegedly plans to focus on. But no article, including this one, would be complete without mentioning the juicy scandal.

As we see, none of the four versions can withstand serious criticism. Therefore, we dare to add a fifth – promoting our personnel, expanding their managerial experience. Considering, there is a high probability that in the foreseeable future he will need to step away from direct control due to the relocation of his permanent residence closer to London. Transferring current affairs of huge corporations in emergency mode via Skype is not the best idea, so Oleg Vladimirovich gives his hired managers time to adapt. Once upon a time he himself saved for a temporarily runaway Mikhail Gutseriev his Russneft, and now there is a risk that his own companies will require qualified management in the absence of the main shareholder.

Deripaska's claim against companies owned by Abramovich and Potanin is currently being considered in a London court. The conflict between these business entities, firstly, will take a lot of time and money, and secondly, it can lead to unpredictable organizational consequences - all these people are famous for their, let’s say, inflexibility in matters of principle and their ability to take revenge on those who went against them.

In these conditions, it is very important to prepare escape routes. Including providing their enterprises with competent and loyal management, giving the appropriate people the appropriate powers.

Anna Trunina, Svetlana Burmistrova

Businessman Oleg Deripaska(ranked 23rd on the list 200 richest businessmen in Russia with a fortune of $5.1 billion according to Forbes) received a passport and citizenship of Cyprus. This was reported by the Organized Crime and Corruption Research Center (OCCRP) and the British newspaper The Guardian, citing documents that were in their possession.

The materials published by investigators say that Deripaska became a citizen of Cyprus back in 2017. He was one of several hundred people who took advantage of the country's citizenship-for-investment programs, known as "golden visas". In order to obtain a Cypriot passport, a foreign citizen must invest at least €2 million in real estate in the country or €2.5 million in Cypriot companies or government bonds.

[BFM.ru, 03/03/2018, “Deripaska received Cypriot citizenship as an investor”: Deripaska’s name surfaced in Cypriot documents after the parliament of this country asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs for data on investors who received citizenship. Over 10 years, 1,685 people became citizens of Cyprus in exchange for investments. The island earned almost 5 billion euros from this. - Insert K.ru]

Deripaska's representative confirmed to RBC the information that he had received a second citizenship, but assured that the entrepreneur remains a citizen of Russia, where he lives with his family and where his business is concentrated.

“Oleg Deripaska’s wide range of business interests implies the need for constant movement around the world. This was the reason for obtaining an additional passport.<...>Having a Cypriot passport also does not affect his taxes in any way, since this is determined not by the passport, but by the place of permanent residence and activity,” said the businessman’s representative.

["Kommersant FM", 03/04/2018, "Oleg Deripaska achieved Cypriot citizenship": According to Deripaska's representative, having a Cypriot passport will not give a businessman any tax breaks.
However, in fact, this is not entirely true, says Dmitry Paramonov, a lawyer and tax consulting practitioner at FBK Legal: “Rules have now been introduced for tax residents of Cyprus according to which they pay taxes to the republic’s budget from their global income only if they were born here or have spent the last 17 years. But there are exceptions for new residents who received a passport based on this program. They essentially have 17 years to avoid paying taxes on a range of income, such as the sale of shares in foreign companies. That is, if Oleg Deripaska has a Cypriot passport and comes to live in the republic or another European country, he will not pay taxes on a business located outside the island state.” [...]
If Deripaska decides to become a tax resident of Cyprus, then his deductions in Russia will only increase, which would be unprofitable for the businessman. This was noted by the head of the tax committee of the Moscow branch of Opora Rossii, Sergei Zelenov: “If we are talking about taxes on legal entities, then nothing will change here. But if we are talking about fees that concern Mr. Deripaska as an individual, then in fact his situation can only get worse. The fact is that if he has the status of a tax resident, and for this he needs to stay in Russia for more than 183 days a year, then his income will be taxed at a rate of 13%. If he loses his residence, accordingly, the personal income tax rate will be 30%. That is, in this case, of course, there will be no improvement in terms of taxes for him personally from income earned in Russia.” - Insert K.ru]

OCCRP indicates that Deripaska submitted an application to the Cypriot authorities with a request to give him Cypriot citizenship, but in Nicosia the Russian entrepreneur was refused. The reason was the investigation that was opened against Deripaska in Belgium in 2015, suspecting him of money laundering. After this, he provided a letter from the Belgian authorities in Cyprus, which stated that the Deripaska case had been transferred to the archive due to lack of evidence. Based on this letter, Cyprus reviewed the businessman’s application and issued a positive conclusion.

The documents that came into the possession of the organization say that in addition to Deripaska, Cypriot citizenship was also offered to the head of the Renova group of companies. Viktor Vekselberg, which called a major shareholder in a Cypriot bank: in March last year, the country's interior minister asked to be given citizenship through “honorary naturalization,” but Vekselberg himself probably rejected the invitation. The businessman's representative, Andrei Shtorkh, assured journalists that Vekselberg has only one citizenship - Russia.

[BFM.ru, 03.03.2018, “Deripaska received a Cypriot passport, but “this will not help him avoid sanctions problems”: What privileges does it give, Alexey Linetsky, Chairman of the Board of the Moscow Legal Agency, told Business FM: “A Cypriot passport gives the opportunity to permanently reside in European Union. This is its main advantage. Plus - the possibility of visa-free entry into all countries with which Cyprus has relevant agreements on visa-free travel. From the point of view of the opportunity to travel to those countries where there are some claims or sanctions against Mr. Deripaska, then regardless depending on what passport he arrives there with, he will have the same difficulties, so from the point of view of avoiding sanctions problems, this passport will not help him in any way. If there are suddenly sanctions against Deripaska and the European Union is adopted, then this passport will give him the opportunity to reside only in the country whose citizenship he has, in this case, Cyprus.”
Most likely, after the presidential elections, the oligarchs of the Yeltsin era will have to connect their business and their future no longer with Russia, suggested Pavel Salin, director of the Center for Political Science Research at the Financial University: “As for the exact goals of obtaining Cypriot citizenship, this should be asked from Mr. Deripaska or his representatives. Well, in principle, the overall picture can be reconstructed, and it emerges quite clearly. There are expectations that after the presidential elections the project to nationalize the economy will be fully launched. It has been going strong in recent years. We see what is happening in the banking sector. To a lesser extent - aviation, in the field of passenger transportation. But this will take it to a new level. It is expected, at least, that in this new reality there will be no place for the oligarchs of the old call, that is, those who occupied the highest positions in the lists of the richest people in Russia back in the nineties. They understand this and begin to look for backup strategies to get out of the current situation with minimal costs. And we see that now large business groups are preparing to sell their assets to one degree or another, without particularly advertising it. Their ultimate beneficiaries are already beginning to look more to the West as their place of residence than to Russia. Here you can remember this story with by Mr. Abramovich filing a petition on obtaining Swiss citizenship. That is why Mr. Deripaska insists that in this corporate conflict with Mr. Potanin Norilsk Nickel has maximized the payment of dividend income. What he needs now is cash, not some industrial assets.”
It is known that on March 15 this year, Oleg Deripaska will leave the post of president of Rusal. The head of Rusal is also included in the “Kremlin list” as a person close to Vladimir Putin.
Personal sanctions may be imposed against him, as well as against other persons on this list. - Insert K.ru]

Oleg Deripaska transfers leadership of the Rusal concern. Now this aluminum concern will be led by a woman. The oligarch, who was compromised by a girl from an escort service, faces a serious charge.

Actually, this is not a sector that is usually led by women. Especially in Russia, where in less harsh industries, as well as in key political positions, men set the tone. First of all, they dispose of raw materials, for the possession of which there were still bloody battles in the wild nineties.

The disagreements were especially serious in the aluminum industry until former commodity trader Oleg Deripaska, who then married into the family of President Boris Yeltsin, consolidated this industry under the roof of the Rusal concern and made it the second largest aluminum concern in the world.

© RIA Novosti, Alexander Kryazhev

The now 50-year-old multi-billionaire has led this concern for eleven years. Before the financial crisis, Deripaska was considered the richest Russian and expanded his business more aggressively than anyone else. Now he is leaving the post of president of the concern. On Friday night it became known that he was transferring the operational business into the hands of his former companion.

Alexandra Buriko will become the CEO of Rusal

The former chairman of the board, Vladislav Solovyov, will become president, and Alexandra Buriko will take his place. This all feels like a paradigm shift. In the Russian economy, women are traditionally assigned, at most, management of financial affairs, which is handed over to them very willingly. But a woman as CEO of a global commodities concern?

Context

When cities die for the sex of oligarchs

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 02/16/2018

Manafort, Deripaska and “Russian traces”

Radio Liberty 03/24/2017

Potanin: one more try

Aftenposten 12/27/2017

Deripaska asked for immunity

The New York Times 05/28/2017

Norilsk is a polar city, the capital of nickel

Le Monde diplomatique 07/24/2016 So 40-year-old Buriko from 2013 until recently was the financial director of the Rusal concern, which, as a result of rising prices for aluminum, increased its turnover last year by a quarter to 9.97 billion dollars, and its net profit - by 3.6% to $1.2 billion.

Deripaska knew why he took her at the time. At KPMG, this woman with a short haircut spent 16 years working with commodity concerns and took many of them public in London.

But Deripaska, who ranks 23rd on Forbes magazine's list of Russia's richest people with a $5.1 billion fortune, is giving up more than just leadership of Rusal.

Deripaska also leaves En+

He also leaves the operational management of his energy concern En+, which he took public in London in 2017 and through which he held his stake in Rusal. Both leadership changes will take place before March 15th. And both caused some confusion in the Russian economy and society.

What made Deripaska, who also owns the Russian automaker GAZ and through it maintains a strategic partnership with Volkswagen, take such steps? Where did the pressure come from when decisions were made? Is he leaving the game as a result of the aggravation of the political situation between Russia and the United States? Did his proximity to Donald Trump's campaign team play a decisive role?

The Russian newspaper Kommersant, which was the first to report the impending reshuffle a few days ago, cited as one of the reasons the fact that Deripaska appears on the new US sanctions list. After this, even Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov found it necessary to declare that he did not believe in it. In fact, all Russian rich people with a fortune of over one billion dollars are included in these sanctions lists.

There is another, more piquant aspect, which became known two weeks ago. One escort girl published sensational photographs from 2016 taken on Deripaska’s yacht. These photographs show Deripaska himself and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko, who is considered Putin’s most important foreign policy adviser.

Here we are talking not only about suspicion of bribery and corruption. In the video, they talk about US foreign policy, which increases suspicions of Russian interference in the American election campaign. Deripaska ultimately had ties to Donald Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who was accused in the United States of working for a foreign government as an "undeclared agent" between 2006 and 2015.

Articles on the topic

Deripaska predicts economic recovery in eastern Russia

CNN 12/22/2011

Deripaska on Russian problems

Financial Times 03/18/2013

Secret fishing in Norway

Aftenposten 10.02.2018

Bogatyr and Rybka against the oligarchy

Echo24 02/20/2018 America and an escort girl are one thing. Another thing is that the Russian oligarch also has completely different objects - in the Rusal concern itself or in its investments. Everywhere we are talking about a fierce struggle for power between the oligarchs, and they are all very strong, they have all gone through fire and water, and some are desperately at enmity with each other.

Dispute between oligarchs Potanin and Deripaska

In the Rusal concern itself, a few years ago, such a wild conflict broke out between the main shareholders that the former Stasi officer and head of Nord Stream 2, Matthias Warnig, was appointed chairman of the supervisory board to act as an independent intermediary to calm the situation, as Warnig himself recently said in an interview with the Welt newspaper. The current new shareholder dispute arose due to the fact that another oligarch duo has just acquired a blocking minority and thereby called into question the old shareholders agreement.

The question about the second large facility is even more piquant: it is located in a completely different global concern, in which Deripaska, through Rusal, owns a 27.8% stake. This is the world's largest nickel and palladium mining concern, Norilsk Nickel, which, by the way, also belongs to the world's largest producers of platinum and copper.

The Kremlin-initiated truce between Deripaska and billionaire Vladimir Potanin lasted six years, with Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich appointed as a mediator and small shareholder. But now the real fight begins. Because now Potanin, who, as the head of the concern, owns a good 30% in Norilsk Nickel, wants to buy the shares of Abramovich, who lives in the UK, which Deripaska is trying to block through court in London.

Russian roulette around Norilsk Nickel

The Rusal concern said on Friday when presenting its annual report for 2017 that the company wants to argue with Potanin about who will have control over the nickel producer. Now we are even talking about an auction, that is, in the future, the last word will go to the shareholder who makes the most favorable offer to the other.

In Russian, such a deal is called Russian roulette. On the stock exchange, Norilsk Nickel is valued at $32 billion. The Vedomosti newspaper quotes the words of one of Deripaska’s acquaintances: the oligarch is now gathering his strength to become president of Norilsk Nickel.

A businessman enmeshed in debt is trying to leave amid the roar of judicial cannonade, and to push the ineffective Rusal to the state

Billionaires usually do not sue girls from escort agencies, but Oleg Deripaska still filed a lawsuit against Nastya Rybka. Have business problems finally ruined the man who once topped the list of Russian rich people? Today, it’s easy to imagine how a former oligarch gives his last dollar to lawyers.

The aluminum empire is experiencing more and more troubles, and its creator is generating more and more lawsuits, most of which are doomed to failure.

The hype around Deripaska's yacht trips has brought with it new facts. Among other things, we learned that the oligarch decided to sue his long-time business partners Vladimir Potanin and Roman Abramovich in London. It can be assumed that by suing Nastya Rybka and her “coach” Alex Leslie (Alexander Kirillov, who until the end of last week was considered a resident of Skolkovo), the billionaire wants to save “face” so as not to feel discomfort in front of British arbitrators and the public.

It is still difficult to say how the dispute with Abramovich will end, since we do not know the exact essence of Deripaska’s claims and argumentation. But, if you look at the billionaire’s recent legal failures, another lost trial will not come as a surprise. Recently, Oleg Deripaska has been suing everyone and for any reason, someone may see in this signs of not only business, but also personal problems of the businessman. Especially considering that for many years Deripaska has refrained from publicity, and all the trials with his participation are actively covered in the press.

“Slandered and robbed”

In October, the Federal Court in Washington rejected Oleg Deripaska's lawsuit against the international news agency Associated Press. The plaintiff claimed that the agency's material about his collaboration with Paul Manafort (former head of Donald Trump's campaign headquarters) contained libel. The billionaire demanded compensation in the amount of $75 thousand from journalists. However, the court considered that his claims were not sufficiently substantiated. “Deripaska does not dispute any material facts presented in the Associated Press material,” the arbitrator explained his decision. This is true, because Deripaska in general does not hide his past collaboration with Paul Manafort, with whom, by the way, he is also unsuccessfully suing.

Oleg Deripaska and Paul Manafort

Manafort advised the Russian oligarch on some investments. According to the Washington Post, in 2014, Oleg Deripaska in a court in the Cayman Islands accused an American of taking almost $19 million from him, but did not return the money and was unable to account for it. In the United States, it is believed that later, in 2016, Manafort tried to “pay off” Deripaska with confidential information about the work of the Trump campaign headquarters. But the businessman needs money, and therefore it is not surprising that as of September last year, according to the American media, the case in court in the Cayman Islands was not closed.

At the end of January 2018, it became known about a new lawsuit against Paul Manafort and his partner Rick Gates, which was filed in the US Federal District Court by the company Surf Horizon Ltd, owned by Oleg Deripaska. This time we are talking about claims for $26 million.

Who is to blame for failures?

Oleg Deripaska also has claims against the Bank of Russia, although not judicial, but exclusively oral. The billionaire attacked the Central Bank at the end of January at the economic forum in Davos. Deripaska complained about the lack of economic growth in Russia and the lack of competitiveness of domestic goods. The businessman associated both circumstances with the overvalued ruble exchange rate and the lack of cheap loans. It is clear that the strengthening of the Russian national currency is unprofitable for oil and gas and metallurgical companies that receive dollar revenue from the export of raw materials.

Deripaska, we recall, is the controlling shareholder of the En+ company, which consolidates the energy and metallurgical assets of the aluminum holding UC Rusal. In the fall of 2017, En+ held an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. The strengthening of the ruble by more than 7% is included in the company's development model as the main macroeconomic risk. At the same time, the risk of a decline in aluminum prices remains. As commodity market analysts Julius Baer note, about 7 million tons of “invisible” aluminum reserves, which appeared as a result of a structural excess supply in 2007-2013, may enter the market. It is almost impossible to predict the time when this metal will “enter” the market, which makes the risks of price declines from current levels dominant. To this should also be added the decline in demand for aluminum in China and possible protectionist measures in the United States, the second largest consumer of the metal.

It is now unclear whether Oleg Deripaska will sue US President Donald Trump, who is threatening to impose strict quotas and duties on foreign suppliers of steel and aluminum. The businessman’s claims to the British intelligence service MI6 have not yet been voiced. The intelligence service questioned the legality of the placement of En+ shares on the London Stock Exchange. Intelligence officers believe that funds raised in this way can be used by Russia to circumvent sanctions and develop the military-industrial complex. The story of the November IPO is being discussed in the British Parliament and it is not a fact that Deripaska will be able to conduct a secondary placement of shares in London, through which he has already planned to attract at least $1 billion to his business.

Debts are weighing on your pocket

Deripaska's companies need money to pay off gigantic debts, a significant part of which was formed during the 2008-2009 crisis. Ten years ago, the aluminum magnate's business could have collapsed, but the state saved him. In particular, Vnesheconombank then issued $4.5 billion to Oleg Deripaska’s structures, and two years later state banks bought part of RUSAL’s shares. At the end of nine months of 2017, the net profit of the En+ Group (controls Eurosibenergo and 48.13% of Rusal) amounted to $898 million, and its net debt amounted to $13 billion.

Apparently, a significant part of the funds raised in November on the London Stock Exchange was used to repay loans. This is confirmed by a statement issued by VTB Bank, presumably in response to MI6's claims: “IPO En+ is an absolutely transparent transaction that was implemented in full compliance with all market requirements.<…>Statements that the repayment of debt to VTB with proceeds from the En+ IPO allegedly violated the sanctions regime are not based on anything and are absolutely false, since the financial transactions carried out are not subject to sanctions,” says VTB’s website.

During the November IPO, Oleg Deripaska's structures were able to raise about $1.5 billion in the West; as a result of the secondary placement of securities, En+ may receive another billion, but the total volume of funds raised will still be insignificant compared to the company's debts. It is likely that this circumstance forces Deripaska to look for money in extravagant ways. Thus, in 2018, En+ management plans to earn 1 billion rubles from selling electricity to cryptocurrency miners. The company offers American and Chinese investors to build mining farms near powerful power plants in Siberia: in Irkutsk, Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk. Considering that in Russia there is still no legal regulation of cryptocurrencies, and the government and the State Duma have not yet decided on the introduction of a tax for miners, the prospects for the new En+ project look vague.

The real state of affairs in Oleg Deripaska's business is well illustrated by two facts. Firstly, the RUSAL company has not allocated funds to launch the production of equipment for housing and communal services in Tajikistan. Discussions about starting a joint production with Dushanbe have been ongoing since the spring of 2015. The other day, a local radio station, citing the RUSAL press center, reported that the company refused the deal, considering it unprofitable. Previously, Deripaska’s structures refused to participate in the construction of the Rogun hydroelectric power station in Tajikistan, for which a feasibility study had already been done.

Of course, in the scale of RUSAL’s activities, both projects can be considered insignificant, but then it’s worth taking an interest in the affairs at the Sayanogorsk aluminum smelter. In 1994, it became the first stone in the foundation of Deripaska’s business empire, and at the end of 2017, SAZ workers announced violations of labor rights. According to them, the plant’s management conducted a “special assessment of working conditions”, on the basis of which workers are usually provided with additional compensation, guarantees and benefits. But this time they were canceled on additional vacations, the work week was increased by four hours, and milk was no longer sold as harmful.

SAZ workers believe that the company decided to save on personnel in order to reduce its losses. But, it can be assumed that Oleg Deripaska could save even more on the fees of his lawyers in foreign courts, or has litigation become more important to him than business? If so, we may soon see the collapse of the aluminum empire that has existed for almost a quarter of a century.

Alexey Privalov

News Agency "RBC" , 02/20/18, “Potanin and Abramovich demanded a deposit of $500 million from Deripaska”

The structures of Vladimir Potanin and Roman Abramovich asked the High Court of London to oblige UC Rusal to post a deposit of $500 million as compensation for possible damage that Potanin may receive due to the claim of Oleg Deripaska’s company.

Vladimir Potanin (Photo: Stanislav Krasilnikov / TASS)

Whiteleave Holdings and Crispian (through these companies, shares in Norilsk Nickel are owned by Vladimir Potanin and Roman Abramovich, respectively), in a document prepared for the hearing on February 16, demand that the High Court of London oblige UC Rusal (the main shareholder is Oleg Deripaska) to allocate $500 million as guarantees in case the legal proceedings with the aluminum manufacturer cause damage to Potanin.

According to the petition of Potanin and Abramovich, UC Rusal must provide the court with a bank guarantee from one of the London banks or make a transfer of $500 million.

The press services of Potanin, Abramovich and UC Rusal declined to comment to Bloomberg. On February 19, Norilsk Nickel announced that UC Rusal was ready to compensate for the damage caused by the lawsuit.

The legal dispute between Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska concerns a possible transaction for Potanin to purchase Crispian’s share in Norilsk Nickel. Now Potanin owns 30.4% of Norilsk Nickel, Deripaska - 27.8%, Crispian of Roman Abramovich and Alexander Abramov - 4.2%. One of the structures of Vladimir Potanin's Interros group, Bonico Holdings, made an offer to Crispian to buy out 4% of Norilsk Nickel from it for $1.48 billion. Crispian notified UC Rusal and Whiteleave Holdings about the offer, providing them, in accordance with the shareholder agreement, the right to buy back the securities on the terms offered by Bonico. Whiteleave Potanina agreed. UC Rusal also accepted the offer, but Oleg Deripaska’s company considered that any sale of Norilsk Nickel shares by Crispian would not comply with the shareholder agreement (UC Rusal has not yet specified what exactly the contradiction is). UC Rusal is trying to challenge the deal through the High Court in London - the proceedings have been postponed until the week that begins on March 5.

For several years, from 2008 to 2012, the conflict between Potanin and Deripaska continued. It was caused, in particular, by disagreements regarding Norilsk Nickel's dividend policy: Oleg Deripaska advocated generous dividends, since UC Rusal had to service its high debt. As a result, the conflict was resolved in 2012 through the mediation of Roman Abramovich, who, together with his partner Alexander Abramov, bought 5.87% of Norilsk Nickel from Potanin and Deripaska. Then an agreement was concluded between the shareholders, according to which dividends from Norilsk Nickel were fixed at a high level (at least 50% of EBITDA and at least $7 billion in the first three years). The agreement also provided for a ban on reducing Abramovich’s share below 2.5% until December 2017.

Potanin, in a conversation with Vedomosti, explained the decision to increase the stake in Norilsk Nickel by faith in the company’s prospects: “Increasing the stake by any of the shareholders will not change the existing parity, since additionally acquired shares can be voted only as provided for in the agreement.”

Georgy Peremitin