HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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 oligarch. He is one of the co-founders of Alfa-Group, a multinational Russian conglomerate. According to ''
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 ...
'', he was the seventh-richest Russian as of 2017. (Moved to 11th place in 2020.) In May 2017, he was also ranked as Russia's most important businessman by ''
bne IntelliNews bne IntelliNews, previously known as Business News Europe, is a business media company focusing on emerging markets. The company's name is stylized in all lower-case letters as "bne" and "IntelliNews" in its publications. The company primarily of ...
''. In August 2022, Fridman had a net worth of $11.2 billion, according to the
Bloomberg Billionaires Index The ''Bloomberg Billionaires Index'', launched in March 2012, is a daily ranking of the world's 500 richest people based on their net worth. It draws information from "action in the stock market, economic indicators and news reports", features a p ...
. In 1991 he co-founded
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, providi ...
, one of the largest private banks in Russia. After serving as CEO 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. ...
, the 50/50 TNK-BP joint venture, for nine years, in 2013 he sold his stake in the company and co-founded the international investment company LetterOne (L1). Until 2022 Fridman was chairman of the
supervisory board In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors. In civil s ...
of Alfa Group Consortium, and also served on the boards of
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, providi ...
and ABH Holdings. Prior to 2022, he was on the supervisory board of directors for
VEON VEON Ltd. (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.) is a Dutch-domiciled multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications, telecommunication services company. It predominantly operates services in the regions of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is the 13t ...
(formerly Vimpelcom) 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 an ...
. He is a member of the supervisory board of DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, which is owned by LetterOne. Fridman has been a member of numerous public-facing bodies, including the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the
Public Chamber of Russia The Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation (russian: Общественная палата Российской Федерации), sometimes shortened to Civic Chamber (russian: Общественная палата), is a consultative civil s ...
, and the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2022 the EU imposed sanctions on Fridman in response to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...
. Fridman said the EU's allegations were false and defamatory. Fridman subsequently decided to step down from the boards of LetterOne and Alfa Group so that they could avoid sanctions. Throughout his career Fridman was subject to numerous legal challenges around the world. In December 2022, it was reported that he had been arrested in London on charges of money laundering.


Early life and education

Fridman was born in 1964 in
Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...
,
Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
, USSR, where he spent his youth. He graduated from high school in Lviv in 1980. He says he was denied entrance to
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 millio ...
's top physics college because he was Jewish, and instead attended the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys. He had various jobs while a college student in Moscow, including washing windows and founding and co-owning a student discothèque named Strawberry Fields. He also led a group of students who would queue for tickets at popular Moscow plays, and then use the tickets as hard currency to barter for rare goods and favours. Having studied metallurgical engineering, he graduated with distinction from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys in 1986.


Career


Early years and Alfa companies (1980s–1990s)

After graduation Fridman worked as a metallurgical design engineer at the Elektrostal Metallurgical Works, a state electrical machinery factory, from 1986 to 1988. As Russian politician Mikhail Gorbachev began to open up the economy in the late 1980s, in 1988 Fridman established a window-washing business, an apartment rental agency for foreigners, a company that sold used computers, and a company that imported cigarettes and perfumes, with fellow friends from college, employing students from various Moscow universities.
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...
n Robert Yengibaryan (russian: Роберт Енгибарян) provided strong assistance to Fridman and, later, Yengibaryan's son Vahe Yengebaryan (russian: Ваге Енгибарян), who was the Russian consul in New York from 2003 onwards, became very close to Fridman's business interests. In October 2019, Fridman told a Spanish court that he was a friend of Vahe Yengibaryan. In 1988, along with German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev, Fridman co-founded Alfa-Photo (also transliterated as Alfa-Foto), which imported photography chemicals. In 1989 the three partners founded Alfa-Eco (Alfa-Echo, Alfa-Eko, Alfa-Ekho), a commodities and eventually oil trading firm, and Alfa Capital (Alfa Kapital), an investment firm. Alfa-Eco and Alfa Capital developed into Alfa Group Consortium. The company, which initially focused on computer trading and copy machine maintenance, expanded into imports and exports and commodities trading, eventually becoming one of Russia's largest privately owned financial-industrial conglomerates, with interests in industries such as telecommunications, banking, retail, and oil. Using $100,000 of his profits from his businesses to pay the required fee, in January 1991 Fridman co-founded
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, providi ...
. The company grew to become one of the largest private banks in Russia. Alfa Group's later divisions include Rosvodokanal, a private water utility; AlfaStrakhovanie, a diversified insurance company; A1 Group, an investment company; and X5 Retail Group, a large chain of food retailers. Alfa Group flourished considerably after Fridman recruited Petr Aven, the former Minister of Foreign Economic Relations for the Russian Federation; in 1994 Aven became president and chairman of Alfa-Bank. By late 1996, thanks to the success of Alfa-Bank and Alfa Group, Boris Berezovsky, in an interview by the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
'', named Fridman and Aven among the seven businessman and bankers who controlled most of the economy and media in Russia, and who had helped bankroll
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. Fridman and Aven sold off most of their Russian government securities in early August 1998, prior to the ruble crisis of 17 August 1998, and emerged relatively unhurt from the 1998 Russian financial crisis. During the crisis, Alfa-Bank used its holdings related to TNK to avoid a debt default, and was one of the few Russian banks at the time to continue to allow customer withdrawals.


Retail holdings and X5 Retail (1995 to present)

Fridman's Alfa Group founded the ''Perekrestok'' (also transliterated ''Perekriostok'') chain of supermarkets in Moscow in 1995. Through a merger with the ''Pyatyorochka'' (also transliterated ''Pyaterochka'') supermarket chain, which had been founded in St. Petersburg in 1999 by Alexander Girda and Andrey Rogachev, Alfa Group founded the
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 an ...
in 2006. X5 acquired another grocer, '' Kopeyka'', for $1.65 billion in December 2010. X5 is Russia's largest food retailer in terms of sales.


Alfa Telecom and Altimo (2001–2015)

Alfa Group acquired a 44% stake in Golden Telecom, a large telecommunications and internet company in Russia and the
Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...
, in 2001. Also in 2001, Alfa purchased a strategic ownership interest 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 wor ...
, a large cellular operator in Russia, and Fridman joined Vimpelcom's board of directors. Alfa Group consolidated its telecom holdings as Alfa Telecom, and in 2005 renamed it Altimo. Its holdings and acquisitions included MegaFon, Vimpelcom, Golden Telecom, and
Kyivstar Kyivstar ( uk, Київстар) is a Ukrainian telecommunications company, providing communication services and data transmission based on a broad range of fixed and mobile technologies, including 4G (LTE) in Ukraine. The Kyivstar mobile netw ...
. In December 2005 Altimo also acquired a 13.2% interest in Turkcell, the largest telecoms company in Turkey. Fridman's desire to merge Vimpelcom and Kyivstar was thwarted by his Vimpelcom partner, the Norwegian telecoms group Telenor, which held stakes in both companies. Fridman resorted to protracted and aggressive efforts to strong-arm Telenor in 2005, and although the merger of Vimpelcom and Kyivstar was achieved in 2010, conflicts with Telenor over control of Vimpelcom lasted seven years in total. From 2003 until 2007 Fridman's Altimo was locked in a complex four-year battle of claims and counter-claims of fraud with the
Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...
-based investment firm IPOC International Growth Fund associated with
Leonid Reiman Leonid Dodojonovich Reiman ( Russian: Леонид Дододжонович Рейман; born 12 July 1957, in Leningrad) is a Russian businessman and government official, former Minister of Communications and Information Technologies of the Russ ...
and Jeffrey Galmond over ownership of a 25.1% stake in MegaFon that was formerly held by
Leonid Rozhetskin Leonid Borisovich Rozhetskin (russian: Леонид Борисович Рожецкин, born August 4, 1966; disappeared March 16, 2008) was a financier and lawyer who went missing under suspicious circumstances after disappearing from his villag ...
's LV Finance. James Hatt, a British telecommunications executive, represented Fridman's interests while Jeffrey Galmond, a Danish attorney, represented Reiman's interests during deliberations between the two groups. Altimo's ownership of the stake was finally maintained in 2007. During the dispute in 2005, Altimo hired the
Haley Barbour Haley Reeves Barbour (born October 22, 1947) is an American attorney, politician, and lobbyist who served as the 63rd governor of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as chairman of the Republican ...
-founded BGR public relations firm, which then hired a security firm,
Richard Burt Richard R. Burt (born February 3, 1947) is an American businessman and diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Germany and was a chief negotiator of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Prior to his diplomatic career, Burt worked as ...
's Due Diligence, in order to infiltrate and obtain information about the
KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
independent investigations funded by Paula Cox, who was the
Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...
Minister of Finance, into the IPOC International Growth Fund. Richard Burt and Mikhail Fridman have a strong working relationship. In 2012 Fridman sold his entire stake in MegaFon for $5 billion.


TNK-BP (2003–2013)

In 1997, Fridman had collaborated with Len Blavatnik and
Viktor Vekselberg Viktor Felixovich Vekselberg (russian: Виктор Феликсович Вексельберг, uk, Віктор Феліксович Вексельберг; born April 14, 1957) is a Ukrainian-born Russian–Israeli-Cyprus oligarch, billion ...
to purchase the state-owned TNK (Tyumen Oil Company), an oil company in Siberia, for $800 million. In February 2003, the British multinational oil and gas company BP agreed to form the
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. ...
joint venture with the AAR (Alfa-Access-Renova) consortium, which included
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 ...
, Blavatnik's Access Industries, and Vekselberg's Renova. After the merger, TNK-BP became the third largest oil producer in Russia, and one of the top 10 largest private oil companies in the world. Fridman served as
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. ...
chairman for nine years, and CEO for three years. Prior to the TNK-BP joint venture, in 1999 Fridman had thwarted BP by seizing BP's stake in the Siberian oil company Sidanko, via bankruptcy maneuvers widely regarded as unfair practices. And although TNK-BP was highly successful financially, Fridman's relationship with BP during the TNK-BP years was contentious, and included blocking BP's 2011 planned partnership with Rosneft for Arctic oilfield exploration. He resigned as CEO of TNK-BP in May 2012. In 2013,
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. ...
was sold to Russia's state-owned energy group Rosneft for $56 billion, with Fridman and his Russian partners receiving $28 billion for their 50% stake, at the height of crude oil prices.


Founding LetterOne and L1 Energy (2013–2015)

Using the proceeds from the sale of their stakes in TNK-BP, Fridman and his Alfa Group partners Khan and Kuzmichev established the international investment company LetterOne (L1) in 2013, and Fridman became the company's chairman. LetterOne's additional co-founders were Petr Aven and Andrei Kosogov. Headquartered 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 ...
, the company was created to invest in international projects in energy, telecoms, finance, technology, and other sectors. As of 31 December 2013, LetterOne had $29 billion in assets under management. In May 2015 Mervyn Davies (Lord Davies) was appointed deputy chairman of LetterOne, and former Swedish Prime Minister
Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. Bildt served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affair ...
was appointed as the board's advisor. In 2013 LetterOne also formed L1 Energy, an energy investment vehicle, initially focused particularly on undervalued international oil and gas assets during the slump in oil prices. John Browne (Lord Browne) was appointed to its advisory board, and in March 2015 became its chairman.


L1 Energy's North Sea oil assets (2015)

On 3 March 2015, L1 Energy acquired the international oil and gas company DEA from the German utility RWE for $7 billion (€5.1 billion). Headquartered in
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
, Germany with extensive assets in the British
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
, RWE DEA had total
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
production output of 2.6bn cubic metres in 2013. The purchase was opposed by the UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary
Ed Davey Sir Edward Jonathan Davey (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 ...
, who raised concerns that Fridman might one day face international Ukraine-related sanctions against Russian companies and individuals which could force L1 Energy to shut down production in the North Sea, thus imperiling oil supplies and 5% of Britain's North Sea natural gas output. On 4 March 2015, Davey gave Fridman a one-week deadline to convince the UK government not to force him to sell the North Sea oil and gas assets. In April 2015, the government gave Fridman up to six months to sell. In October 2015 Fridman and the LetterOne Group sold L1 Energy's British North Sea assets to
Ineos INEOS Group Limited is a British multinational chemicals company headquartered and registered in London. , it is the fourth largest chemical company in the world. Ineos is organised into about 20 standalone business units, each with its own b ...
, a Switzerland-based petrochemical company owned by
Jim Ratcliffe Sir James Arthur Ratcliffe (born 18 October 1952) is an English billionaire, chemical engineer and businessman. Ratcliffe is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Ineos chemicals group, which he founded in 1998 and of which he ...
, for $750 million. The British government assured LetterOne that the forced sale was "not a judgement on the suitability of LetterOne's owners to control these or any other assets in the UK". In October 2015 LetterOne Group acquired German utility company E.ON's equity interests in 43 Norwegian oil and gas licences, including interests in three producing Norwegian fields, all located in the North Sea, for $1.6 billion.


LetterOne's telecom and other technology assets 2015 to present

In April 2015, LetterOne Technology (L1 Technology) was launched in London. Its focus was on buying "struggling telecom or technology companies that require a fresh infusion of capital". Various advisory board members were appointed including
Brent Hoberman Brent Shawzin Hoberman (born 25 November 1968) is a British entrepreneur and investor. During the dot-com boom, he co-founded lastminute.com with Martha Lane Fox in 1998, where he was CEO from its inception, before selling the business to Sab ...
,
Denis O'Brien Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several ye ...
, and
Sir Julian Horn-Smith Sir Julian Michael Horn-Smith (born December 1948) is a British businessman who is a member of the boards of a number of international corporations and an advisor to others. He was deputy chief executive of Vodafone until July 2006. Horn-Smith ...
. The L1 Technology fund began acting as a holding company for the 48 percent stake 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 wor ...
owned by Fridman and his partners. The fund also has a 13.2% share in the Turkish telecom company Turkcell, which since 2005 has been hampered by a long-running feud between its three largest shareholders: Cukurova, owned by Turkcell founder Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, Fridman's LetterOne via Alfa Telecom/Altimo, and Sweden's
Telia Company Telia Company AB is a Swedish multinational telecommunications company and mobile network operator present in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Telia also owns TV4 Media which includes TV4 in Sweden, MTV Oy in F ...
. In February 2016, Vimpelcom agreed to pay $800 million to settle U.S. and Dutch claims that it had bribed officials to win contracts in Uzbekistan between 2006 and 2012. A year later the company rebranded itself VEON, and changed its focus to mobile internet services such as banking, taxis, and messaging. In February 2016, Fridman's LetterOne fund invested $200 million in
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), packa ...
. In August 2016 LetterOne invested $50 million in telecommunications start-up FreedomPop, to help finance its international expansion.


Additional activities 2012 to present

In 2012 Fridman partnered with American real-estate developer Jack Rosen in a joint venture to invest $1 billion in distressed real estate properties along the U.S. East Coast. In June 2016, LetterOne prepared to expand into healthcare by launching the $3 billion fund L1 Health in the United States, for investments in the global healthcare industry. In October 2016, Alfa Group acquired Ukrainian bank
Ukrsotsbank Ukrsotsbank (in 2013–2016 known as UniCredit Bank – Ukrsotsbank) was a Ukrainian bank. It was a subsidiary of Alfa Group via a Luxembourg incorporated company АВН Holdings. In October 2019 Ukrsotsbank was fully merged with Alfa-Bank (U ...
, by offering its parent, the Italian financial conglomerate
UniCredit Group UniCredit S.p.A. is an international banking group headquartered in Milan. It is Italy's only systemically important bank (according to the list provided by the Financial Stability Board in 2022) and the world's 34th largest by assets. It was fo ...
, a minority stake of 9.9% in ABH Holdings. In December 2016, LetterOne launched L1 Retail, headquartered in London, to invest $3 billion in "the retail stars of tomorrow" in Europe and the UK. In 2016 Fridman coined the term "
Indigo Era The Indigo Era (or Indigo economies) is a concept publicized by businessman Mikhail Fridman, describing what he views as an emerging new era of economies and economics based on ideas, innovation, and creativity, replacing those based on the possess ...
", for his theory of a global shift to an emerging era of economics based on creativity and digital skills rather than on natural resources. In 2017 he funded a £100,000 Indigo Prize for new economic-measurement models based on the paradigm. In June 2017 LetterOne's L1 Retail division acquired
Holland & Barrett Holland & Barrett (H&B) is a multinational chain of health food shops with over 1,300 stores in 16 countries, including a substantial presence in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, ...
, Europe's largest health-food store chain, for £1.8 billion ($2.3 billion). Also in 2017 Fridman, via LetterOne, invested $3 billion in Pamplona Capital Management, a private-equity firm that was founded by Alexander Knaster, the former CEO of Alfa-Bank, and which Fridman had invested in previously. In January 2018, due to concerns over possible sanctions stemming from the 2017 U.S. Congressional sanctions on Russia, Fridman announced that Alfa-Bank was phasing out its holdings in Russia's defense industry. In May 2018 Fridman and Aven spoke to an off-the-record private dinner meeting at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. The invitation and the privacy of the meeting drew criticism of the Atlantic Council from a group of 13 Russian and U.S. experts and activists, who wrote that "In our view ... Aven, Fridman, and other key Alfa-Bank oligarchs are ... close cronies and insiders of Putin's regime, and do not operate independently of Putin's demands." The Atlantic Council responded that the private meeting was not "a sweetheart platform", and the Kremlin responded that the two oligarchs represented the interests of their business, not Putin's interests. In 2019, Mikhail Fridman acquired a 50% stake in one of the suppliers of computing devices for the Russian defense industry via the structures affiliated with A1 investment company.


Sanctions

On 28 February 2022, the European Union blacklisted Fridman and had all his assets frozen as part of a package of sanctions imposed against Russian officials and oligarchs in response to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...
. Fridman said that the war would "damage two nations who have been brothers for hundreds of years" and called for the "bloodshed to end". In October 2022 Fridman offered to transfer $1 billion of his personal wealth into a Ukrainian bank that he co-founded. Officials said the proposal was calculated to persuade the UK to lift sanctions against him. Fridman denied making a quid pro quo offer to Ukraine.


Controversy in Spain

Fridman first appeared in the Spanish press in November 2002, when the Liberian tanker ''Prestige'' sank off the coast of Galicia. It was transferring 77,000 tons of Russian heavy oil; the cargo belonged to Crown Resources, a company owned by Fridman's Alfa Group. The oil spill contaminated the Spanish coast, causing a major environmental disaster, with total damage estimated at 1.5 billion euros. After the disaster, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo called Fridman ‘Dirty Michael’. In the summer of 2016, the Spanish entrepreneur Javier Perez Dolset, head of the ZED Corporation (mobile apps developer), addressed the Spanish prosecutor's office with a complaint about his Russian partners associated with VimpelCom Ltd., a member of Alfa Group. According to Dolset, they had illegally seized the capital of their joint venture, which resulted in the bankruptcy of the parent company. El Confidencial published a series of articles about the story of ZED's bankruptcy, and accused Fridman of staging an illegal takeover by removing Javier Perez Dolset from the business and ruining him financially. On 16 January 2017, Peter Wakkie, a Dutch attorney known as Fridman's righthand man, was arrested at
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
's
Barajas Airport Barajas may refer to: *Barajas (Madrid), the district of Madrid in which the airport lies ** Barajas (Madrid Metro), station along Line 8 of the Madrid Metro **Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, principal airport of Madrid, Spain * Barajas ( ...
for possible business fraud. In October 2019, Fridman attended court proceedings relating to the Zed case in order to be questioned by Spain's National Court in Madrid. He was summoned to a pre-trial hearing as a person under investigation. The accusation was formulated as “a series of actions which brought about the insolvency of Spanish firm Zed Worldwide… in order to acquire it at a derisory price, far lower than its market value.” The prosecutor referred to Fridman's dealings with Zed Worldwide as a 'raid', clarifying that this was a technique used “typically used by the Russian mafia” with the purpose of taking over a business illegally. And while his legal representatives claimed that Fridman had never been a director of any entities involved in Zed's takeover or driving down Zed's market value, the Spanish prosecutors insisted that Fridman “hides his control of criminal activities behind subordinates”. The assertion was grounded in the analysis of “a series of WhatsApps and emails that show that Fridman was aware of everything that was happening.” After the pre-trial hearing, Jose Grinda, who was the lead prosecutor in the case, commented to the media that “from the perspective of the Prosecutor's Office, Fridman will remain in the status of the accused.” On 15 December 2020 the Spanish National Court dismissed the case. According to the decision, the judge considered that the continuation of the case against Fridman contradicted the principle of the
presumption of innocence The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which must presen ...
and stated that there were "no reasonable grounds to accuse the suspect as an author, accomplice or accessory." Subsequently, in an order dated 22 February 2021, the National High Court of Spain dismissed appeals by Zed Group in Fridman's favor, concluding there was no evidence to demonstrate that Zed Group's allegations were true, and that the text messages originally used as evidence failed to implicate Fridman "beyond references from third parties." In mid-2017, Fridman's LetterOne investment company acquired Dia, a Spanish supermarket chain. From 2011 to 20 December 2018, Dia was listed in the so-called IBEX 35 as one of the 35 largest Spanish companies on the stock market. Economy expert Sergio Avila commented: “... With the entry of etterOneinto iathe sales fell sharply, the profitability of enterprises decreased, which was accompanied by a fall in Dia's share prices on the
Madrid Stock Exchange Bolsa de Madrid (; Madrid Stock Exchange) is the largest and most international of Spain's four regional stock exchanges (the others are located in Barcelona, Valencia, and Bilbao) that trade shares and convertible bonds and fixed income securiti ...
. Therefore, I assess Dia's prospects as extremely negative, and in no way recommend it to investors.” El Confidencial recalled past episodes associated with Fridman and qualified his actions as raider attacks on Spanish enterprises. In January 2021, the Spanish National Court dismissed a case alleging that Fridman had manipulated the market to devalue Dia's shares, with the judge stating the court instead saw Dia's decline in value as a result of "mismanagement" and lack of investments in marketing.


Current posts

Fridman is on the board of directors of ABH Holdings, which is the
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 ...
-headquartered holding company of Alfa Banking Group. Since DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG was bought by L1 Energy in 2015, he has been a member of its supervisory board. Fridman is a member of numerous public-facing bodies, including the National Council on Corporate Governance in Russia and a boardmember of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. In February 2001, he became a member of the Council for Entrepreneurship at the Government of the Russian Federation. He was elected as a member of the
Public Chamber of Russia The Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation (russian: Общественная палата Российской Федерации), sometimes shortened to Civic Chamber (russian: Общественная палата), is a consultative civil s ...
in November 2005. Since 2005, he has been a Russian representative on the international advisory board of the Council on Foreign Relations.


Philanthropy and initiatives

In 1996 Fridman was one of the founders of the
Russian Jewish Congress The Russian Jewish Congress is a non-profit charitable fund and Russian Jewish organization. It was established in 1996 by a group of Jewish businessmen, workers and religious figures with the goal of reviving Jewish life in Russia. It unites som ...
, and he has been an active member since then, including having been its vice president and head of its cultural committee. He is a major donor to the European Jewish Fund, which promotes inter-religious dialogue. In 2007, Fridman, along with Stan Polovets, Alexander Knaster, Petr Aven, and German Khan, founded the
Genesis Philanthropy Group The Genesis Philanthropy Group (GPG) is a global family of foundations, co-founded by Mikhail Fridman, an international businessman and philanthropist, and his business partners. In 2022 after Russian invasion in Ukraine the EU imposed sanctions o ...
, whose purpose is to develop and enhance Jewish identity among Russian-speaking Jews worldwide. The Genesis Prize, which the group founded in 2012, is a million-dollar annual prize for Jewish contributions to humanity. Fridman was also one of the major funders of the
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
memorial project at
Babi Yar Babi Yar (russian: Ба́бий Яр) or Babyn Yar ( uk, Бабин Яр) is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. T ...
in
Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...
,
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, which was launched in 2016. In 2011 he founded the annual Alfa Jazz Fest, which is funded by Alfa-Bank, in his hometown of Lviv, Ukraine, and in 2014 launched the Alfa Future People Festival, an annual electronic music festival held on the banks of the
Volga River The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchme ...
in the
Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
region in Russia.


Honours and awards

In 2003, Fridman was honoured with the Golden Plate Award from the
Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...
in
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, presented by former U.S. President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, and he was named one of "The Stars of Europe: 25 Leaders at the forefront of change" by ''
BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
''. In 2004 he was included in the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
'' list of 25 business executives named "Leaders of the New Europe". In 2004 he was included in Fortune magazine's list of the Power 25 in Europe and was given GQ Russia's Man of the Year national award in 2006. ''Forbes Russia'' named Fridman Russian Businessman of the Year in 2012 and 2017.


Legal challenges

In 2003, two "elite
dacha A dacha ( rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ') or shack serving as a family's main or only home, or an outbu ...
s" owned by the Russian government were sold below market value, one to Fridman and another to former Russian prime-minister
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 fr ...
. The sales caught the attention of the press in July 2005, with State Duma member and journalist Aleksandr Khinshtein stating that the sales had gone through without the mandatory media announcement of auction. Khinshtein also alleged a preferential loan from Fridman to Kasyanov, which Fridman denied. Fridman stated that the property's asking price was low because the building was dilapidated and sold without land. ''
Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
'' reported that Khinshtein's investigation appeared to be an attempt to intimidate Kasyanov, who aspired to head anti-Putin forces. In early 2006, the Moscow Court of Arbitration ruled that the two houses should be returned to the state, maintaining Fridman's right to a refund but arguing the proper procedures were not followed during the privatization. On 1 March 2006, government officials responsible for the sale of the two properties were charged with misappropriation of entrusted property for an especially large sum by an organized group. In 2005, a
United States district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...
in Washington, D.C. dismissed a 2000 libel suit by Fridman and Petr Aven against the
Center for Public Integrity The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to ...
over an online article which included a suggestion that they had been involved in drug-running and organized crime; the federal judge ruled that there was no evidence of actual malice on the part of the publication and that Fridman and Aven were limited public figures regarding the public controversy involving corruption in post-Soviet Russia. In May 2017 Fridman, along with fellow Alfa-Bank owners Petr Aven and German Khan, filed a defamation lawsuit against '' BuzzFeed'' for publishing the unverified
Steele dossier The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report written from June to December 2016, containing allegations of misconduct, conspiracy, and cooperation between Donald Trum ...
, which alleged financial ties and collusion between Putin, Trump, and the three bank owners. In October 2017 Fridman, Aven, and Khan also filed a libel suit against the private-investigation firm Fusion GPS and its founder Glenn Simpson, who had commissioned former
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
agent Christopher Steele to compile the dossier, for circulating the dossier among journalists and allowing it to be published. In April 2018 Fridman, Aven, and Khan filed a libel suit against Steele in the
Superior Court of the District of Columbia The Superior Court of the District of Columbia, commonly referred to as DC Superior Court, is the trial court for the District of Columbia, in the United States. It hears cases involving criminal and civil law, as well as family court, landlor ...
, but the suit was dismissed with prejudice the following August. Aven, Khan, and Fridman then brought a lawsuit for defamation in Britain against Orbis Business Intelligence, Steele's private intelligence firm. The trial started in March 2020 in London, with Steele arguing the claim should be dismissed as the subject matter "fell within the remit of national security". In July 2020, Mr. Justice Mark Warby in the Queen's Bench Division of the British
High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (Englan ...
ordered Orbis pay $23,000 to both Fridman and Aven in damages, after Steele claimed they had delivered "large amounts of illicit cash" to Vladimir Putin when Putin was deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. Warby stated that the claim was "demonstrably false" and awarded the damages to compensate "for the loss of autonomy, distress and reputational damage caused by the breaches of duty". The judge also stated that Steele's dossier inaccurately claimed that Aven and Fridman provided foreign policy advice to Putin. Fridman testified in the proceedings that he had never been asked by Putin to perform political favors, with Warby agreeing that "in the context of his position as a businessman, the idea of ridmandoing Mr Putin's political bidding makes no sense."


Arrest in London

On December 1, 2022, a 58 year old man, identified as Fridman by the Russian state-owned news agency,
TASS The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...
, was detained and arrested at his residence in London by officers from the Combating
Kleptocracy Kleptocracy (from Ancient Greek, Greek κλέπτης ''kléptēs'', "thief", κλέπτω ''kléptō'', "I steal", and -κρατία -''kratía'' from κράτος ''krátos'', "power, rule") is a government whose Corruption, corrupt leaders ...
Cell of the
National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cybercrime; and economic crime that goes across regional and in ...
in relation to charges of money laundering. Although his identity was not officially released, several sources identified the man as Fridman.


Personal life

Fridman was based for many years 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 millio ...
, often spending time in European cities such as
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 ...
,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
,
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, and
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
. In 2015 he moved to London, and by 2016 had purchased Athlone House for £65 million to be his primary residence. He is divorced and has four children. In 2016 he announced that in his will, his fortune will be left to charity. He and his first wife Olga have two daughters Katya (Ekaterina) and Lora (Larisa) (russian: Лора). Olga studied with Mikhail at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, but in the 1990s she attended design courses in Paris and became an interior designer. As of May 2014, she and the daughters live in France. He has two children with his second wife Oksana Ozhelskaya (russian: Оксана Ожельская).


See also

*
Energy in Russia Energy consumption across Russia in 2020 was 7,863 TWh. Russia is a leading global exporter of oil and natural gas and is the fourth highest greenhouse emitter in the world. As of September 2019, Russia adopted the Paris Agreement In 2020, ...
*
Russian oligarchs Russian oligarchs ( Russian: олигархи, romanized: ''oligarkhi'') are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Russian privatisation that followed the dissolution of the Soviet ...
*
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 people by net worth *
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 ...


Notes


References


External links

*
Mikhail Fridman Profile
at
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 ...

Mikhail Fridman Profile
at LetterOne
Mikhail Fridman Profile
at
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, providi ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Mikhail 1964 births Living people Ukrainian billionaires Russian businesspeople in retailing Businesspeople from Lviv Ukrainian Jews Alfa Group Ukrainian emigrants to Russia 20th-century Russian engineers 21st-century Russian engineers Russian businesspeople in real estate Israeli bankers Israeli billionaires Israeli chief executives Israeli engineers Israeli investors Israeli Jews Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Israeli philanthropists Jewish engineers Jewish philanthropists Jewish Russian politicians Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Members of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation National University of Science and Technology MISiS alumni Privatization controversies Russian bankers Russian billionaires Russian businesspeople in the oil industry Russian chief executives Russian emigrants to Israel Russian investors Russian philanthropists Russian Jews Russian individuals subject to the European Union sanctions Russian oligarchs Russian activists against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian businesspeople in Israel Russian businesspeople in the United Kingdom