Alexey Viktorovich Kuzmichev or Kousmichoff (Russian: ''Алексей Викторович Кузьмичёв'') is a Russian businessman. He is one of the founders of the
LetterOne Group (LetterOne) and the
Alfa Group
Alfa Group Consortium () is Russian international privately owned investment groups, with interests in oil and gas, commercial and investment banking, asset management, insurance, retail trade, telecommunications, water utilities and special sit ...
.
Kuzmichev is a stakeholder in
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 world ...
,
Alfa-Bank
ALFA-BANK JSC (Alfa-Bank), is the largest of the private banks in Russia. It was founded in 1990 by Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman, who is still the controlling owner today. Headquartered in Moscow, it operates in seven countries, providin ...
, and
X5 Retail Group
X5 Group (previously known as X5 Retail Group and commonly known as X5) is Russia's largest food retailer.
The company operates several retail formats: convenience stores under the Pyaterochka brand, supermarkets under the Perekrestok brand a ...
.
In March 2013, Kuzmichev sold his stake in energy venture
TNK-BP
TNK-BP (Tyumenskaya Neftyanaya Kompaniya, Tyumen Oil Company) was a major vertically integrated Russian oil company headquartered in Moscow. It was Russia's third-largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. ...
to state-run oil company
Rosneft
PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian Vertical integration, integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, Extraction of petroleum, extraction, production, refining, Petroleum t ...
for $2.5 billion. Forbes magazine rated Kuzmichev as the 138th world's richest person in 2013 with a fortune estimated at $8.8 billion.
Early life and career
Kuzmichev was born in 1962 in
Kirov, Russia. Between 1980 and 1982 he served in the army on the Soviet-Chinese border as a radio operator. During this time he joined the Communist party.
In 1983, he enrolled in the
Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys
The National University of Science and Technology (MISiS) (russian: Национальный исследовательский технологический университет МИСиС) is a public technological university in the field ...
where he met his future business partners,
Mikhail Fridman
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (also transliterated Mikhail Friedman; russian: Михаил Маратович Фридман; he, מיכאיל פרידמן; born 21 April 1964) is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli businessman, billionaire, and ...
and
German Khan
German Borisovich Khan (russian: Герман Борисович Хан; born 24 October 1961) is a Ukrainian-Russian oligarch, billionaire, and businessman. After graduating from university in 1988 he worked in a wholesale business selling ...
. In 1988 Kuzmichev, Fridman and Khan, along with Mikhail Alfimov, founded Alfa Photo, which specialized in the import of photo chemicals.
Later, Kuzmichev convinced his partners to diversify into the export business. Thus in 1998 Alfa Eco was founded. This venture would become the basis of
Alfa Group Consortium
Alfa Group Consortium () is Russian international privately owned investment groups, with interests in oil and gas, commercial and investment banking, asset management, insurance, retail trade, telecommunications, water utilities and special sit ...
. (In 2005, Alfa Eco was rebranded as A1).
Alfa Group
Alfa Group's portfolio includes the largest commercial bank in Russia,
Alfa-Bank
ALFA-BANK JSC (Alfa-Bank), is the largest of the private banks in Russia. It was founded in 1990 by Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman, who is still the controlling owner today. Headquartered in Moscow, it operates in seven countries, providin ...
, (with affiliates in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and the Netherlands/Amsterdam Trade Bank); international telecom company
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 world ...
(the sixth largest mobile network operator in the world by subscribers as of April, 2012); as well as holding shares in Turkish telecommunications company
Turkcell
Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. (''lit. Turkcell Communication Services'') (, ) is the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey, based in Istanbul. The company has 39,3 million subscribers as of September 2021. In 2015, the company's number of ...
. Until April 2012, Alfa Group owned 25 percent of Russian cell phone operator
MegaFon
MegaFon (russian: МегаФон), previously known as North-West GSM, is the second largest mobile phone operator ; it sold its share for $5.2 billion. Alfa also has stakes in Russian retailer X5 Retail Group,
Rosvodokanal Group; and insurance company, Alfa-Strakhovanie Group. Kuzmichev owns over 18 percent of the consortium's joint assets and is a member of the board of directors of Alfa Finance Holdings. The Group's major transactions include TNK oil company privatization, which later became a part of
TNK-BP
TNK-BP (Tyumenskaya Neftyanaya Kompaniya, Tyumen Oil Company) was a major vertically integrated Russian oil company headquartered in Moscow. It was Russia's third-largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. ...
venture, Russia's third-largest oil producer. In March 2013 Alfa Group and its joint partners AAR Consortium sold 50 percent of
TNK-BP
TNK-BP (Tyumenskaya Neftyanaya Kompaniya, Tyumen Oil Company) was a major vertically integrated Russian oil company headquartered in Moscow. It was Russia's third-largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. ...
to Russian oil company
Rosneft
PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian Vertical integration, integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, Extraction of petroleum, extraction, production, refining, Petroleum t ...
.
Kuzmichev is responsible for overseeing Alfa Group’s international trading operations.
Sinking of The Prestige
Crown Resources, a European oil and commodity trading arm of Alfa Group, of which Kuzmichev is chairman, was the owner of the oil cargo on
The Prestige vessel, which sank near the coast of Galicia, Spain in 2002. The case concerning The Prestige centred on the negligence of the vessel's owner and was completed in July 2013. No accusations or financial claims were brought against Crown Resources.
LetterOne Group
Kuzmichev is one of the original founders of the
LetterOne Group. The LetterOne Group (LetterOne) is an international investment business based in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
. Its investments are focused on the telecoms, technology and energy sectors through its two main business units,
L1 Energy
L1 Energy is an oil and gas investment company controlled by the Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, through Alfa Group, and chaired by Lord Browne.
On 2 March 2015, it was announced that Lord Browne was the executive chairman, and would be reno ...
and L1 Technology.
Despite recently being required by the Government to sell their North Sea oil and gas fields, LetterOne have reportedly been told in a letter from a senior UK official that this 'is not a judgement on the suitability of LetterOne's owners to control these or any other assets in the UK.
International sanctions due to
2 of Kuzmichev's yachts have been seized by France due the sanctions against Russians billionaires after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Kuzmichev is married to Svetlana Kuzmicheva-Uspenskaya. In 2016, he bought a $42 million mansion in New York City.
See also
*
List of billionaires
''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking by documented net worth of the wealthiest billionaires in the world, compiled and published in March annually by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March ...
*
List of Russian billionaires
This is a ranking list of Russian billionaires. The following is based on the annual estimated wealth and assets assessment compiled and published by American business magazine ''Forbes''. The wealth of 83 people exceeds $ 1 billion.
Methodolog ...
References
External links
Alfa-Group Global
* https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/3496659-how-the-sussmann-trial-revealed-hillary-clintons-role-in-the-alfa-bank-scandal/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuzmichev, Alexey
Alfa Group
National University of Science and Technology MISiS alumni
1963 births
Living people
Russian venture capitalists
Russian billionaires
Russian individuals subject to the European Union sanctions
Russian businesspeople in Cyprus
Russian activists against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine