Stroygazmontazh (), also called the S.G.M. Group, is an infrastructure construction firm that operates in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

primarily via its subsidiaries, specializing in the creation of oil and gas transportation systems. The company was founded in 2008 with operations in construction—particularly of oil and gas infrastructure—in Russia. According to the RBK Group, it is the 44th largest company in Russia by income, with an annual

₽ The ruble sign, , is the currency sign used for the Russian ruble, the official currency of Russia. Its form is a Cyrillic letter Р with an additional horizontal stroke. The design was approved on 11 December 2013 after a public poll that took ...

276 billion in revenue.

History

Foundation

Stroygazmontazh was initially founded in 2008 by Russian businessman and oligarch

Arkady Rotenberg Arkady Romanovich Rotenberg (russian: Аркадий Романович Ротенберг; born 15 December 1951) is a Russian billionaire businessman and oligarch. With his brother Boris Rotenberg, he was co-owner of the Stroygazmontazh ( ...

after he purchased five companies under the control of Russian oil and gas giant

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 larges ...

. Rotenberg is a close friend of Russian President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

, which has led to the S.G.M. Group and other firms under Rotenberg's control winning a number of Russian government contracts. By January 2019,

through his Stroygazmontazh LLC and his companies, along with

Nikolai Shamalov Nikolai Terent'yevich Shamalov, Nikolai Terent'evich Shamalov or Nikolai Terentievich Shamalov (russian: link=no, Николай Терентьевич Шамалов; born 24 January 1950) is a Belarusian-born Russian dentist, businessman, and a ...

and

Yuri Kovalchuk Yury Valentinovich Kovalchuk (russian: Ю́рий Валенти́нович Ковальчу́к; born 25 July 1951) is a Russian billionaire businessman and financier who is "reputed to be Vladimir Putin's personal banker". The Panama Papers ...

through their

Rossiya Bank The Rossiya Bank (Bank Rossiya (russian: Банк «Росси́я»), in Russian: Акционерный коммерческий банк Россия, АКБ Россия) is a Russian joint stock bank founded on June 27, 1990. The company's h ...

have become the most important investors in Russia's development of the annexed Crimea. Stroygazmontazh built the

Crimean Bridge The Crimean Bridge ( rus, Крымский мост, r=Krymskiy most, p=ˈkrɨmskʲij most), also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning t ...

, commencing in February 2016. The road bridge was opened in October 2018, and the rail bridge opened in June 2020.

2019 buyout

In early November 2019, Rotenberg's shares in the company were reportedly sold to Gazstroyprom—an infrastructural firm under the administration of

—for a total of ₽75 billion ($1.18 billion). Stroygazmontazh had been a subcontractor of Gazprom for some time, and had collaborated in building 320 kilometers of onshore pipelines for the

Nord Stream 2 Nord Stream 2 (German-English mixed expression; german: Nord and en, Stream 2, literally 'North Stream2'; russian: Северный поток — 2) is a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany running through the Baltic Sea, financed by ...

project.

Projects

Crimean Bridge

In 2016 and 2017 it was reported that Stroygazmontazh, with evident ties to Russian President

, had won a contract in January 2015 to construct the

providing a two-track railway link, and a four lane automobile and truck, link between Russia and Crimea by crossing the Kerch Strait, and that it had proceeded to begin construction. The Russian government stipulated that Stroygazmontazh was to complete the railway link by August 1, 2019, and fully complete all works on the bridge by December 1, 2019. Stroygazmontazh had never built a major bridge before. Because of the risks of EU sanctions applied in July 2018, no international insurance company was willing to underwrite the potential $3 billion loss if the project went wrong—thus, a small Crimean insurance company underwrote it. Stroygazmontazh commenced construction in February 2016. The road bridge was opened in October 2018, and the rail bridge opened in June 2020.

References

{{reflist Construction and civil engineering companies of Russia Companies based in Moscow Construction and civil engineering companies established in 2008 Russian companies established in 2008 Russian entities subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions Arkady Rotenberg