Leonid Mikhelson

Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson (Russian: Леони́д Ви́кторович Михельсо́н; born 11 August 1955) is a Russian-Israeli billionaire businessman, CEO, chairman and major shareholder of the Russian gas company Novatek.[1]

Leonid Mikhelson
Mikhelson in 2020
Born (1955-08-11) 11 August 1955
Kaspiysk, Russian SFSR
Citizenship
Alma materKuibyshev Civil Engineering Institute
OccupationBusinessman
Known forMajor Shareholder of Novatek
Richest Person in Russia
TitleChairman & CEO, Novatek
SpouseMarried
Children2

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mikhelson obtained a stake in a privatized pipeline construction company out of which he formed Novatek.[2] He is a business partner of Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko, a close confidante of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.[2]

According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he had a net worth of US$28.8 billion, as of August 2022, making him the 44th richest person in the world and the second richest in Russia.[3] According to the 2023 Forbes annual rating, Mikhelson is ranked 4th among Russian billionaires with a net worth of $21.6 billion.[4]

Biography

Born to an Ashkenazi Jewish family,[5] Mikhelson began his career as an engineer after[6] graduating with a degree in Industrial Civil Engineering from the Samara Institute of Civil Engineering in 1977. He started working as a[7] foreman at a construction and assembling company in the Tyumen area of Siberia. One of his[8] initial projects was work on the Urengoi-Chelyabinsk gas pipeline. In 1985, he was[8] appointed as Chief Engineer of Ryazantruboprovodstroy. In 1987, he became General Director of Kuibishevtruboprovodstroy. In 1991, Kuibishevtruboprovodstroy was one of the first companies to undergo privatization after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Mikhelson continued as Managing Director at the company, which has been renamed NOVA, until October 1994. He then became General Director of its holding company, Novafinivest, which later became known as NOVATEK. From 2008 until 2010 Mikhelson was Chairman of the Board of Directors for OAO Stroytransgas and OOO Art Finance. He currently holds the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors of ZAO SIBUR and serves on the Supervisory Board of OAO Russian Regional Development Bank.

SIBUR is a gas processing and petrochemicals company operating 26 production sites across Russia with headquarters in Moscow. Mikhelson owns 57.5% interest in Sibur. He also holds a 25% stake in Novatek.[9]

He also owns the megayacht Pacific.[10]

Mikhelson has a strong interest in art,[11] stating that “99 per cent” of his interest is in Russian and contemporary art.[12] He also established his own foundation, the V-A-C Foundation, which promotes contemporary Russian art, and has international ties with the New Museum in New York, the Tate museums in the UK, and London's Whitechapel gallery.[13] In May 2017, the foundation also opened an exhibition space in Venice and work is underway to develop V-A-C's first major art centre in Moscow, whose main site is an historic power station on the banks of the Moskva River. Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the new centre for contemporary arts and culture in Moscow is due to open in 2021.[14]

Notable Partnerships

Mikhelson often partners with Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko[15] on business and investment projects. They are partners and majority shareholders in Novatek and Sibur. In 2013, Mikhelson and Timchenko sold 12% of Sibur to management partners. Both Mikhelson and Timchenko appear on the Forbes list of billionaires.[16] In 2012, Mikhelson was listed as the second-richest Russian[17] in a number of articles including Bloomberg.[18] Mikhelson and Novatek are the main sponsors of the Russian Football Union.

Mikhelson is the recipient of the Russian Federation's Order of the Badge of Honor.[19][20]

Personal life

Mikhelson is married, with two children, and lives in Moscow.[21] His daughter Victoria studied art history at New York University and London's Courtauld Institute.[22] His VAC Foundation Victoria, the Art of Being Contemporary, is named after her.[22] Mikhelson also hold an Israeli citizenship.[23][24]

Sanctions

Mikhelson is one of many Russian "oligarchs" named in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.[25]

Sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 in relation to Russo-Ukrainian War. [26]

See also

References
  1. "NOVATEK : Management". Novatek.ru. 2010-12-31. Archived from the original on 2010-04-18. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
  2. Helman, Christopher. "Novatek's Leonid Mikhelson: Surviving Russia's Turmoil". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  3. "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Leonid Mikhelson". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  4. "20 богатейших российских бизнесменов в глобальном рейтинге Forbes". Forbes.ru (in Russian). 2023-04-04.
  5. The world's 50 Richest Jews: 31-40 Archived 2014-02-21 at the Wayback Machine By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, 09/07/2010
  6. "Leonid Mikhelson - Chairman of the Board of Directors". Sibur.com. Archived from the original on 2015-02-03.
  7. "Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson". Caspian Energy. Archived from the original on 2015-02-04.
  8. "Leonid Mikhelson's Sibur Buys 25% Joint Venture Interest In New Siberian Polypropylene Plant". May 29, 2014. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015.
  9. Helman, Christopher. "Novatek's Leonid Mikhelson: Surviving Russia's Turmoil". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2017-07-30. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  10. Yachtfan, Peter. "[Leonid Mikhelson]: Inside his Crazy US$ 150,000,000 Yacht PACIFIC". www.superyachtfan.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  11. "Галерея Виктория | VK".
  12. "Laying the foundations". Financial Times. 24 May 2013. Archived from the original on 2018-06-29.
  13. "Moscow's V-A-C Foundation's Local and Global Reach - artnet News". artnet News. 2016-07-05. Archived from the original on 2016-07-06. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  14. "Russian billionaire's V-A-C Foundation opens space in Venice". theartnewspaper.com. Archived from the original on 2017-05-10.
  15. "Gennady Timchenko". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2017-09-06.
  16. "The World's Billionaires". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29.
  17. "Leonid Mikhelson". Richest Russian. Archived from the original on 2015-02-03.
  18. Shiryaevskaya, Anna (August 22, 2012). "Billionaire Mikhelson Becomes Russia's Second-Richest Man". Bloomberg Business. Archived from the original on May 21, 2013.
  19. "Novatek to Sponsor Russian Football Union". The Moscow Times. October 31, 2013.
  20. Kozlov, Vladimir (November 4, 2013). "Natural Gas Company Novatek Takes Over Sponsorship Of Russian Football Union". Sports Business. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015.
  21. "Forbes profile: Leonid Mikhelson". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 13, 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  22. Needham, Alex (13 March 2017). "Prawn sex … and other future sounds of Russia". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  23. "On the hunt for oligarchs in the 'wild west' of corporate intelligence". Financial Times. 2022-04-28. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  24. "MIKHELSON Leonid Viktorovich". opensanctions.org. 11 August 1955. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  25. "Report to Congress Pursuant to Section 241 of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017 Regarding Senior Foreign Political Figures and Oligarchs in the Russian Federation and Russian Parastatal Entities" (PDF). January 29, 2018.
  26. "CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2023.
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