RUSSIA: Russian business journal 'Finans' release their annual 'Russia's Billionaire List' issue

Record ID: 757876

  • Title: RUSSIA: Russian business journal 'Finans' release their annual 'Russia's Billionaire List' issue
  • Date: 16th February 2010
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FEBRUARY 15, 2010) (REUTERS) ANDREI GORYANOV CHIEF EDITOR OF FINANS JOURNAL IN HIS OFFICE FINANS JOURNAL EDITION WITH BILLIONAIRES LIST ON DESK ANDREI GORYANOV WORKING ON COMPUTER VARIOUS OF FINANS JOURNAL OPEN TO RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRES LIST (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ANDREI GORYANOV CHIEF EDITOR OF FINANS JOURNAL SAYING: "Our number one, Vladimir Lisin, is
  • Embargoed: 3rd March 2010 12:00
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  • Topics: Economic News,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA7XMYBEEIMW0MLX5THIQQIGWS5
  • Story Text: Russian business journal 'Finance' released their annual 'Russia's Billionaire List' issue on Monday (February 15). Toping the list is Russia's steel baron, Vladimir Lissin.
    With a personal wealth of $18.8 billion Lisin has succeeded to be so discreet that even most Russians barely know his name. Lisin's name means "fox" in Russian, and his acquaintances say the phenomenal success of the multi-billionaire can be largely explained by the fact that he has never upset the government or the Kremlin.
    "Our number one, Vladimir Lissin, is equally distanced from infighting and the Kremlin, but in the list of billionaires there are many who benefit from state resources," said Andrei Goryanov, the chief editor of Finans magazine.
    Lisin, 53, is a rare example of a career steel man becoming a king in Russia's fragmented steel industry, which is mostly run by financiers after chaotic sell-offs in the 1990s.
    A graduate of a Siberian steel institute and a senior steel plant manager in the late 1980s, he had to learn fast after the Soviet Union's demise was followed by what is often tagged "the sale of the century" of state assets in the 1990s.
    As a junior partner of the powerful Cherney brothers, Mikhail and Lev, Lisin helped their TransWorldGroup (TWG), a metals trader with links to the political elite in President Boris Yeltsin's Russia, gain control of some of the country's most lucrative metals assets.
    Despite the country's recession, Russia's top ten billionaires have nearly doubled their aggregate wealth over the past year to $139.3 billion. In 2008, the global economic crisis saw their combined fortunes drop from $221 billion to $75.9 billion.
    "The top ten Russian billionaires on our list have profiled this year and have increased their total worth one and a half times. This reflects their activities over the past two years, which may reflect what's going on in the Russian economy, although there isn't a direct correlation, of course," said Goryanov.
    A total of 500 super-rich Russians have made it to the magazine's list. As many as 77 Russians own over $1 billion each, an increase from last year.
    "The number of dollar billionaires on our list increased to 77 this year from 49 last year although the number of people of equal or slightly less worth is also big, but their financial activities are not publicly documented and so we can't rate them in our list," said Goryanov about the of the not always always transparent business practices in Russia.
    Lisin's fortune is worth half of Microsoft founder Bill Gates' $40 billion, the world's biggest, according to U.S. Forbes magazine. Finans publishes its list two months before the benchmark Russian Forbes edition, which last year ranked Lisin 93rd on the global list with $5.2 billion.
    He was said to have bought assets in the West but the purchases appear modest compared to the yachts and football clubs of some Russian oligarchs. In 2005, British media reported that Lisin had spent 6.8 million pounds ($10.5 million) on a 16th-century Scottish castle. His retreat, "the Fox's Den", has welcomed top visitors, including Russia's most influential politician, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
    Mikhail Prokhorov, the president of Onexim Group who topped the journal's list last year, came in second with an estimated wealth of $17.85 billion.
    Roman Abramovich, the former governor of Chukotka and the owner of Chelsea Football Club, came in third with $17 billion.
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