Wiktor Felixowitsch Wekselberg

Viktor Wekselberg

Viktor Vekselberg , the usual Latin spelling. Viktor Vekselberg Feliksovich officially in Switzerland Victor Vekselberg Feliksovich (eg in. Swiss Commercial Register , Russian Виктор Феликсович Вексельберг , scientific. Transliteration Viktor Feliksovič Veksel'berg * 14. April 1957 in Drogobych , Ukrainian SSR ) is a Russian oligarch and investor in Switzerland . With an estimated fortune of 13.4 billion US dollars , he is according to Forbes magazine ranked 99 of the richest people in the world and ranked the richest Russians in 2018. 9 He is the founder and owner of the Renova Group ( Russian Ренова ), owned shares in the Russian oil company TNK-BP , holds well-known stakes in the world's largest aluminum producer RUSAL and, among others, in the Swiss technology group OC Oerlikon .

biography

Wekselberg was born in Drohobych in western Ukraine, south of Lemberg . His father was Ukrainian of Jewish origin , his mother Russian . She was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and, according to Wiktor Wekselberg, “is still convinced of this ideology to this day”.

He is married to Marina Wekselberg and has two children, Irina (* 1980) and Alexander (* 1988). Irina graduated from Yale Business School and works for the Renova Group in Manhattan .

He has numerous residences, his main place of residence, according to Forbes Magazine, is Moscow . After the abolition of flat taxation for rich foreigners in the canton of Zurich , Wekselberg announced that in autumn 2010 he would move his place of residence from this canton to the canton of Zug . According to their own statements, the low tax burden in the canton of Zug is only one of the reasons for the move.

academic career

Wekselberg came out of Drohobych for the first time in 1974 when he studied mathematics in Moscow. In 1979 he graduated from the Moscow State University of Transportation (MIIT) . He began a career as a scientist and research director at the "Institute of Advanced Pneumatics" in Moscow (including software for state energy companies). He began his business career even before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Companies

KomWek

While still a scientist, Wiktor Wekselberg founded his first company, the research and later trading company NPO KomVek ( Wekselberg Company ), which initially carried out barter deals and worked closely with the Irkutsk Aluminum Group . According to his own statements, he earned his first million by importing inexpensive western computers, which he equipped with his own software and sold at high prices to the state energy companies; In addition, he and his partner traded copper scrap from the state energy companies, which they bought very cheaply and sold to large German companies through state foreign trade companies.

Renova group

In 1991 he founded the Renova Group (also Access-Renova ) with the Russian exile Leonard Blavatnik . Two thirds of the shares belong to Wekselbergs KomWek and one third to Access Industries . Blavatnik lived in the United States and brought Western capital to the joint venture through his investment company Access Industries . Renova quickly earned a reputation for being one of the most advanced investment and business companies in Russia, investing in numerous industries. In 1994 Renova carried out the first hostile takeover of a company based on the western model in Russia and consistently used the possibilities of privatizing state-owned companies. The Renova Group, with various offices and branches worldwide, has since then comprised oil, natural gas, mechanical engineering, chemical, telecom, real estate and utility companies, gold and platinum mines and a private equity fund.

TNK-BP

After Boris Yeltsin was re-elected as Russian President in 1996, Wekselberg participated in the auctions of state-owned companies. In July 1997 he was able to take over 44 percent of the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) together with the Alpha Group . For this purpose, 810 million US dollars should be invested in TNK, one of the largest Russian oil and gas companies. In 1997 Wekselberg took control of this company and later led it into a joint venture with the oil company British Petroleum (BP) .

The TNK-BP was founded in 2003 - she was one of 50% of the BP Group to 37.5% of the Alfa Group of oligarch Mikhail Fridman and 12.5% of the Access-Renova Group Viktor Vekselberg of.

Under pressure from the Russian government under Vladimir Putin , TNK-BP had to sell its stake in the East Siberian gas field Kowytka to Gazprom in June 2007, which was significantly below its value . Wekselberg was head of the natural gas division of TNK-BP and has since tried to buy back the shares. The company has been a wholly-owned Rosneft subsidiary since 2013.

SUAL

Wekselberg also took part in the hard struggle for control of the Russian aluminum industry in the 1990s . He bought refineries in the Urals and eastern Siberia in order to merge them in 1996 to form the Siberian-Urals Aluminum Company (SUAL), which at the time produced around 20 percent of Russian aluminum. The group's largest bauxite deposits in Europe and control over the second largest Russian energy producer Irkutskenergo , which supplies the inexpensive energy for aluminum production, are particularly valuable .

In 2003, Wekselberg agreed with an investment company belonging to the British banking dynasty Fleming to hold a 23 percent stake in the restructured SUAL group.

RUSAL

In August 2006, the Russian aluminum giants RUSAL of the oligarchs Oleg Deripaska and Roman Abramowitsch (founded in 2000) and SUAL by Wiktor Wekselberg initiated a three-way merger with the Swiss commodities trader Glencore by Marc Rich (based in Baar ).

On February 14, 2007, the formal merger took place to form the world's largest aluminum group in terms of production volume. The former owners of Rusal owned 64.5%, SUAL 21.5% and Glencore 14.0% in the RUSAL group, which was expanded as a result.

The RUSAL group has a global market share of almost a fifth, its value is estimated at around $ 25 billion, and it has production sites primarily in Russia, but also in the USA, Scandinavia, China and Africa as well as bauxite and alumina refineries in Russia, Ukraine, Africa, Australia and South America. Rusals supervisory board chairman is Wiktor Wekselberg; the business is led by Oleg Deripaska as CEO , who also sits on the board of directors. Aleksandr Bulygin became the new general director .

Investigation against Wekselberg company for bribery in Russia

At the beginning of September 2016, employees of the energy company ZAO KES (now “T Plus”) were investigated for bribery in the years 2007-2014.

Renova Group in Switzerland

In 2004 Wekselberg initially set up his second home in Zurich , where his lawyer Carl Stadelhofer introduced him to the manager Thomas Borer , who then also joined Wekselberg, and founded Renova Group Equity Holdings AG and Renova Management AG - "Renova Holding" for short. or "Renova Group". In Switzerland, he bought into Züblin Immobilien Holding on the one hand, and Wekselberg is pushing his international investments from here on the other. He wants to mine manganese in South Africa and titanium in Ukraine .

Renova also holds stakes in the successors of once famous Swiss corporations and other companies, which are significant from a Swiss perspective:

• Züblin Real Estate (end of 2004)
• Unaxis (July 2006, acquisition of 10.25% of the shares of the Austrians Ronny Pecik and Georg Stumpf in their company Victory Industriebeteiligung)
  OC Oerlikon (in January 2007 the increase to 13.8% was announced, in May 2008 to 39.1% , in June 2010 to 46.11%)
• Saurer (July 2006, over 10%, the Victory held over 33% at that time, but in April 2007 "a small, non-reportable stake")
• Sulzer (April 2007, takeover of 32%, of which 17.5% in shares and 14.4% as call options, with the Austrians Ronny Pecik and Georg Stumpf and their company Victory Holding through the joint venture Everest )
• Ascom (February 2007)
• Schmolz + Bickenbach (September 2013, 25.5%)

Avelar Energy

In December 2006, Renova Holding founded Avelar Energy Ltd. and Avelar Management Ltd. , which already bought the Italian concern Energetic Source SPA in February 2007 , which in turn controls a third of the shares in the largest Italian wind energy producer Vento Energia . At the same time, Avelar Energy Ltd. began with the Swiss high-tech group OC Oerlikon , in which Renova has a stake of almost 14 percent, the development and production of its own solar cells .

On March 7, 2007, Avelar Energy Ltd. announced that it will invest $ 1 billion in renewable energy in Italy, Switzerland and Germany within five years. 1,000 megawatts are to be produced with wind, solar and bioenergy.

Russian Silicon Valley project

In March 2010, Viktor Vekselberg received by President Dmitry Medvedev , the order in Skolkovo near Moscow with the Skolkovo innovation center , the Russian counterpart to the American Innovation Center Silicon Valley build.

property

In May 2007 it became known (article in the Austrian daily newspaper Kurier ) that Wekselberg had acquired “the most expensive property in Croatia” - a magnificent Wilhelminian style villa in the center of Dubrovnik - and was planning to renovate it. Wekselberg promised the city of Dubrovnik a concert hall for "preferential treatment" when it came to the acquisition.

Patronage

In 2000, Wiktor Wekselberg founded the cultural-historical foundation The Link of Times Cultural and Historical Foundation , which is supposed to look for historical and cultural treasures brought abroad and bring them back to Russia.

• Fabergé eggs: In February 2004, Wekselberg bought their famous Peter Carl Fabergé collection with 190 works of art from the Forbes family in New York City for around 100 million dollars , including nine imperial Fabergé eggs , which he exhibited in the Kremlin and at other exhibitions, as also exhibited in Zurich and Berlin . The collection, which has been expanded to more than 4,000 objects through acquisitions, has been in the Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg run by the foundation since 2013 .
• Bells of the Danilow Monastery: One of the larger projects are also the bells of the Danilow Monastery , which were saved in 1930 by the American diplomat and industrialist Charles Crane from being melted down by the Bolsheviks and brought to the USA via winding roads. A tower was specially built for them in the Lowell House of Harvard University . In September 2006, Wekselberg donated US $ 1 million to finance her return to the Danilov Monastery in Russia in the summer of 2007 and to cast replacement bells.
• Transfer and burial of Ivan Ilyin in the Donskoy Monastery: In October 2005 Wekselberg financed the transfer of the remains of the Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin from Zollikon to Moscow and the burial in the Donskoy Monastery ; he had been expelled from the country in 1922 ( Philosophenschiff ).

Soccer

• 2006/07 Marketing rights for the international friendly matches of the Argentine soccer team

Administrative criminal proceedings

Sulzer case

In April 2009 the Federal Department of Finance announced the opening of administrative criminal proceedings against Wekselberg, Ronny Pecik and Georg Stumpf. You were accused of having breached the reporting requirements when purchasing stakes in the engineering company Sulzer . In October 2010 the proceedings against Wekselberg, Ronny Pecik and Georg Stumpf were discontinued for a compensation payment totaling ten million francs.

Case OC Oerlikon

In January 2010, Ronny Pecik, Georg Stumpf and Wiktor Wekselberg were each fined 40 million francs by the Federal Department of Finance for alleged failure of a group to report the sale of a block of shares in the then Unaxis (now OC Oerlikon ) from Victory to Wekselberg. The Russian Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin then complained about the penance. After a letter from Wekselberg to the Russian Prime Minister Putin in March 2010, Putin intervened and instructed Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov to deal with the case. At the end of May 2010 it became known that Wekselberg was moving the proceedings to the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona . Wekselberg, Pecik and Stumpf were acquitted by the Federal Criminal Court on September 23, 2010. The fines of 40 million Swiss francs each are no longer applicable. After a detailed analysis of the reasons for the judgment, the Federal Department of Finance decided not to proceed with the judgment before the Swiss Federal Court in Lausanne.

US sanctions

Wekselberg has been on the US government's sanctions list since April 6, 2018. Its assets in the USA were frozen, and private assets of two billion Swiss francs are said to have been blocked at Swiss banks. Wekselberg, who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin , described these sanctions as "illegal and unfair" and announced that they would take legal action against them. In order to avoid even greater asset losses, he reduced his stake in the technology group Sulzer from originally 63 to below 50 percent. According to Forbes, his total wealth has fallen by two to three billion dollars in a few months since he was on the US sanctions list.

Web links

Commons : Wiktor Wekselberg  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Renova Group website
• Forbes List
• Wekselberg on Russia Current
• Viktor Vekselberg's power network: Russian Sphinx
• Walter Mayr: Dream Couple from Lake Zurich , Der Spiegel , July 22, 2007
• Project Potemkin , Focus , March 23, 2013

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Commercial Register of the Canton of Zurich, Internet excerpt for Renova Management AG  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Forbes : Viktor Vekselberg . 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
3. ↑ Rosneft completes acquisition of TNK-BP , handelsblatt.de on March 21, 2013 , accessed on January 2, 2016
4. ↑ DER SPIEGEL 10/2006 - Nobody is waiting for me in the West. September 17, 2012, accessed January 28, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Mikhail Prokhorov sells jeans and Roman Abramovich sells the forest on sobesednik.ru; accessed on October 1, 2014
6. ^ Neue Zuger Zeitung Online, May 9, 2010: Russian billionaire moves to Zug
7. ↑ Spiegel Online, March 6, 2006: Nobody is waiting for me in the West , accessed on June 2, 2010
8. ^ Associates of Russian tycoon Vekselberg held in bribery probe , Reuters, September 5, 2016
9. ↑ Senior Partner at Klein Rechtsanwälte AG ( Memento of the original dated February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and sits on the board of directors of OC Oerlikon for Renova
10. ↑ HR monitor: Renova Group Equity Holdings AG ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ NZZ online (May 10, 2008): Vekselberg now holds almost 40 percent of OC Oerlikon - Renova in front in the power struggle
12. ↑ Handelszeitung : OC Oerlikon: Renova took over Block from Victory and now holds 46.11% articles from June 14, 2010
13. ↑ NZZ Online (February 15, 2007): Ascom dismisses CEO
14. ^ Commercial register of the Canton of Zurich, Internet excerpt for the company Avelar Energy Ltd.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
15. ↑ Commercial Register of the Canton of Zurich, Internet excerpt for the company Avelar Management Ltd.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
16. ^ Basler Zeitung, Tamedia Espace AG: Fabergé eggs are coming to Zurich . ISSN  1420-3006 ( bazonline.ch [accessed January 7, 2020]).
17. ↑ Art Magazine online - artnet Magazine. Retrieved January 7, 2020 . 
18. ↑ The Harvard Crimson (September 11, 2006): Lowell Bells May Return to Motherland ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
19. ^ Welt Online (August 1, 2004): Treasures for the Kremlin
20. ^ Felix Philipp Ingold : Power Vertical , in the FAZ on March 27, 2007 .
21. ↑ Federal Department of Finance, April 6, 2009: Sulzer case - opening of administrative criminal proceedings ( Memento of the original of July 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
22. ↑ NZZ, April 6, 2009: Criminal proceedings against Vekselberg in the Sulzer case
23. ↑ Sulzer / EFD closes proceedings against Vekselberg, Pecik and Stumpf in: Handelszeitung of October 18, 2010
24. ↑ Stocks, January 28, 2010: Oerlikon / Renova: EFD penalizes Vekselberg - Russian investor appeals ( memento of the original from July 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
25. ^ SF Tagesschau, January 29, 2010: Vekselberg-Busse strains relations with Russia
26. ↑ Sunday , May 16, 2010: Swiss buses against Viktor Vekselberg: Putin intervenes
27. ↑ sf.tv: Vekselberg pulls record buses to the Federal Criminal Court article from May 30, 2010
28. ↑ 40 million buses off the table for the time being in: NZZ Online from 23 September 2010
29. ↑ No forwarding of the judgment in the OC Oerlikon case ( memento of the original from November 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in: admin.ch from December 14, 2010 
30. ↑ Viktor Vekselberg has to go about the books in: nzz.ch from April 12, 2018
31. ↑ Blocked accounts - now oligarch Viktor Vekselberg wants to sue Swiss banks in: watson.ch from May 26, 2018
32. ↑ Andreas Flütsch: Vekselberg defends itself against US sanctions. December 8, 2018, accessed on July 8, 2019 (German).