Alexander Leonidovich Mamut also spelled Aleksandr, (russian: Алекса́ндр Леони́дович Маму́т; born 29 January 1960,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
)
is a Russian
billionaire
A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The ...
lawyer, banker and investor.
Used to be (until 2020) a co-owner of Rambler Group.
An Israeli citizen
In June 2022, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' estimated Mamut's net worth at $2 billion.
Early life and education
Alexander Mamut was born on 29 January 1960. His father is Leonid Solomonovich Mamut, a lawyer and one of the authors of the
Russian Constitution. His mother, Cicilia Ludwigovna, is a defense attorney. In 1977, Mamut graduated from Moscow gymnasium #17. He studied law at Moscow State University, graduating in 1982.
Career
Mamut began his career as a legal advisor at a printing house.
[
In 1990, together with Andrey Gloriozonov, Mamut founded "Business and Cooperation” Bank, that was renamed in 1991 into . The bank was founded to service companies in the field of fuel and energy. Its biggest clients were ]Gazprom
PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the largest ...
and Lukoil
The PJSC Lukoil Oil Company ( stylized as LUKOIL or ЛУКОЙЛ in Cyrillic script) is a Russian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Moscow, specializing in the business of extraction, production, transport, and sale of petrol ...
.
In 1990 Mamut founded “ALM-Consulting” law firm (ALM abbreviated after Mamut’s name) and served as Managing Partner there throughout 1990–1993. In 1991, ALM Consulting partnered with Frere Cholmeley Bischoff, a law firm based in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and headed by Tim Razzall from 1990 to 1994, in order to establish many offshore shell companies with which ALM Consulting would create the offshore shell company through Frere Cholmeley Bischoff for $300 and then ALM Consulting would sell that same offshore shell company for $5000. In 1993, Roman Kolodkin (russian: Роман Колодкин) introduced Mamut to Igor Shuvalov who worked at the Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the legal department as an attache. According to an interview published in the Russian independent newspaper Meduza
''Meduza'' ( rus, Медуза, t=jellyfish) is a Russian- and English-language independent news website, headquartered in Riga. It was founded in 2014 by a group of former employees of the then-independent '' Lenta.ru'' news website. Free mo ...
, Mamut hired Shuvalov as a senior advisor to ALM. On behalf of the company, Shuvalov conducted special assignments with offshore companies and transported money. Such Russian businessmen as Alisher Usmanov
Alisher Burkhanovich Usmanov (russian: Алишер Бурханович Усманов; born 9 September 1953) is an Uzbek-born Russian businessman and oligarch. By 2022, Usmanov had an estimated net worth of $19.5 billion and was among the w ...
, Roman Abramovich
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the ...
, and Boris Berezovsky were among the largest clients of ALM Consulting in the 1990s.[
During the 1990s, ]Mikhail Kasyanov
Mikhail Mikhailovich Kasyanov ( rus, link=no, Михаи́л Миха́йлович Касья́нов, , mʲɪxɐˈil mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kɐˈsʲjanəf; born 8 December 1957) is a Russian politician who served as Prime Minister of Russia f ...
, while he was the head of the department of external loans and foreign debt at the Russian Ministry of Finance
The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (russian: Министерство финансов Российской Федерации), also known as ''MinFin'' (Минфин России), is a ministry of the Government of Russia respon ...
, made decisions in support of Mamut.
Mamut founded the Design Bureau "Company of Project Financing" (KOPF) (russian: ЗАО КБ "Компания по проектному финансированию" (ЗАО КБ "КОПФ")), which is a bank, in 1993, and served as its chief executive officer until 1998. In 1996, KOPF donated 280 million rubles to Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
's election campaign.[ Meanwhile, he was the co-founder and director of from 1993 to 1997. He was the founder of ALM Development and remained an investor until 2001.
Mamut was Chairman of Moscow Business World (MDM-Bank) (russian: «Московский Деловой Мир» (МДМ)) or ''Moskovsky Delovoy Mir (MDM)'' from 1999 to 2002.
Mamut made donations to ]Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
's 1996 re-election campaign. He was an economic adviser to the chief of the Russian presidential administration, Alexander Voloshin
Alexander Stalyevich Voloshin (russian: link=no, Александр Стальевич Волóшин; born 3 March 1956, Moscow) is a Russian politician who briefly was chairman of the board of directors of RAO UES, the former Russian state po ...
from 1998 to 1999.
On 31 May 1999, Mamut was elected to the board of directors of Sobinbank (russian: Собинбанк).
Mamut’s “A&NN” Investment Company acquired 100% of shares of Evroset from Evgeniy Chichvarkin and Timur Artemiev in 2008. By October 2008, he sold 49.9% to VimpelCom
VEON Ltd. (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.) is a Dutch-domiciled multinational telecommunication services company. It predominantly operates services in the regions of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is the 13th largest mobile network operator in the wor ...
.
Mamut acquired 60% of the Spar Moscow Holding in 2009. He also acquired the “Torpedo-ZIL” football club for the symbolic price of $1. Two years later, in 2011, he invested in the Nomos-Bank. He is a large investor in Ingosstrakh, the insurance company, and Troika-Dialog, an investment bank. He has also invested in Polymetal International, a mining company, and PIK Group, a construction company.
Media
Mamut founded the SUP Company in 2006, and acquired LiveJournal Russia in 2007.
In May 2011, after James Daunt and Alexander Mamut were introduced through a mutual friend, Mamut acquired Waterstones
Waterstones, formerly Waterstone's, is a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries. As of February 2014, it employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe. An average-sized W ...
, a UK-based bookstore chain, through Capital Fund Management Limited, a subsidiary of Mamut's A&NN company, for the equivalent of $66 million. Mamut then named James Daunt as the managing director
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...
of Waterstones, replacing Dominic Myers. Mamut later sold off a majority stake in April 2018 to Elliott Advisors, valuing the company at $250 million with N M Rothschild & Sons
Rothschild & Co is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company, and the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the French and British branches of the Rothschild family.
The banking business o ...
handling the deal, and Elliott retained James Daunt as CEO of Waterstones.[
Mamut became the sole owner of the SUP Media in December 2012. In 2013, he acquired Lenta.ru.] By 2014, he became the Chairman of Rambler&Co.
He is the owner of Lenta.ru, a Russian news website. In 2014, he fired Galina Timchenko, the editor of Lenta.ru, for publishing an interview with a far-right Ukrainian nationalist. She was replaced by a pro-Kremlin journalist.
He acquired sports betting firm Rambler in 2016, selling a 46.5 percent stake to Sberbank in December 2019. Mamut was subsequently involved in an intellectual property rights dispute between Rambler and Sberbank.[
A&NN acquired the Moscow movie theaters “Pioneer” in 2008 and the Khudozhestvenny in 2016. They later acquired movie chains Cinema Park and Formula Kino in 2017.
In 2020, Mamut sold Rambler to Sberbank.]
Personal life
Mamut is a widower from his second marriage. He has five children. He resides in Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, Russia, and has a secondary residence in Kensington, London. He also owns a yacht.
Mamut has given grants of £200,000 to Eton College
Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...
.
Rambler Group
Sberbank acquired 45% of shares in Rambler Group from Alexander Mamut in 2020 whereby the share of Sberbank in Rambler Group was increase to 100%
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamut, Alexander
Living people
1960 births
Russian philanthropists
Russian billionaires
Moscow State University alumni
Businesspeople from Moscow
People from Kensington
Russian businesspeople in the United Kingdom