Alexander Mashkevitch

Alexander Antonovich Mashkevich (Hebrew: אלכסנדר משקביץ; also transliterated Alexandr Mashkevic; Russian: Александр Антонович Машкевич; born 23 February 1954) is an Israeli-Kazakh businessman and investor who has major holdings and close political relationships in Kazakhstan. He holds both Kazakh and Israeli citizenship.[2]

Alexander Mashkevich
Born (1954-02-23) 23 February 1954[1]
Frunze, Kyrgyz SSR, Soviet Union
NationalityIsraeli
Kazakhstan
OccupationMajor shareholder in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation

He enriched himself in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, as he, Patokh Chodiev, and Alijan Ibragimov, obtained mineral and gas operations when they were privatized in Kazakhstan.[3] They founded the company Eurasian Natural Resources Corp.[4]

Biography

Mashkevich was born in Frunze, Kyrgyz SSR, Soviet Union, in 1954. His father Anton, a doctor born in Lithuania, and his mother, Rakhel Yoffe, a lawyer born in Vitebsk, were evacuated to Kyrgyzstan in 1941.[1] His family background is Lithuanian Jewish. He is a graduate of Kyrgyz State University where he studied philology. Mashkevich started out on an academic career, but became a businessman during perestroika.

Mashkevich served as president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) until 2011. The EAJC is one of the five regional branches of World Jewish Congress (WJC). He is also a major donor to the Israel lobby group European Friends of Israel.[5]

In 2002, in apparent consultation with Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Mashkevich asked his Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev — a personal friend — to intervene with Iran concerning Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbullah.[6]

Career

Mashkevich, Patokh Chodiev, and Alijan Ibragimov form "the Trio", a group of Kazakh businessmen who became billionaires.[2] The Trio gained control of the recently privatized chromium, alumina, and gas operations in Kazakhstan (among the largest in the world).[7][8]

Mashkevich is a major shareholder in Eurasian National Resources Corporation (ENRC), now one of the world's leading natural resources groups.[9] ENRC, based in London, operates a number of metals assets in Kazakhstan and Africa, having acquired numerous mining operations in Eastern Europe and Africa. In 2009, ENRC generated a $1,462 million profit on sales of $3.8 billion. ENRC was floated on the London Stock Exchange in December 2007, with a market capitalisation on Admission of approximately £6.8 billion. In 2013, ENRC was privatized to form the Eurasian Resources Group.

Mashkevich is one of the owners of London-based Alferon Management, which has acquired mining operations in Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Kosovo, Russia, and other countries.[10]

In 2019 he was on the Forbes list of billionaires, with a worth of $2.4 billion.[11]

On April 6, 2011, Mashkevitch announced his intention to found a Jewish version of Al-Jazeera.[12][13]

References
  1. "Машкевич Александр". Tengrin News. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  2. Krichevsky, Lev (18 October 2004). "Wealthy Kazakh businessman looks to make mark on Jewish world". www.ncsj.org. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
  3. Özcan, G. (2016-04-30). Building States and Markets: Enterprise Development in Central Asia. Springer. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-230-29695-4.
  4. Werdigier, Julia (2013-04-24). "More Turnover at Kazakh Miner Listed in London". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  5. Gil Shefler 450 MPs from 37 European countries come to promote friendship with Israel, Jerusalem Post, 6 February 2011, accessed 18 November 2021
  6. Galili, Lily (29 October 2002). "A Kazakh Oligarch Trying To Be a Jewish Tycoon". www.ncsj.org. Ha'aretz. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
  7. "The Steel Maharajah". BBC. BBC News. 24 July 2002. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
  8. Kazhegeldin, Akezhan (24 December 2004). "The end of the "controlled" democracy". Respublika. International Eurasian Institute for Economic and Political Research. Archived from the original on 6 May 2006. Retrieved 4 May 2006.
  9. Hecht, Albert (June 24, 2013). "Alexander Mashkevich Looks Like Finally Getting His Wish To Take ENRC Private". Jewish Business News. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  10. Laruelle, Marlene; Peyrouse, Sebastien (2015). Globalizing Central Asia: Geopolitics and the Challenges of Economic Development. Routledge. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-7656-3505-1.
  11. "Forbes". Forbes.
  12. "Russian billionaire to found 'Israeli Al-Jazeera'". The Jerusalem Post. April 7, 2011. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  13. Weisler, Alex (June 27, 2011). "Billionaire Mashkevich quits Euro-Asian Jewish Congress presidency". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved January 1, 2020.

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