Full name:
Mikhelson Leonid
Mikhelson Leonid Date of Birth
11 August 1955
Mikhelson Leonid Citizenship
Russia
Mikhelson Leonid Professional field/official position
- Chairman of the Board and Shareholder of Novatek
- Chairman of the Board and Shareholder of Sibur Petrochemical Holding.
Mikhelson Leonid biography
MIKHELSON Leonid Viktorovich (b. 1955 in Kaspiysk), born into a Jewish family, graduated from the Kuibyshev Civil Engineering Institute with a degree in civil engineering in 1977. After that, he worked as the superintendent of the construction trust in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug of the Tyumen Region near the city of Surgut at the construction of the first line of the Urengoy-Chelyabinsk gas pipeline.
- In 1984, he became the chief engineer of the Ryazantruboprovodstroy trust.
- In 1987, he headed the Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy trust. Later in 1991, the trust became the first privatized joint-stock company in the region and changed its name to Samara People’s Enterprise Nova. Until 1994, Mikhelson was the managing director of it.
- In 1994, Nova came under the control of the Novafininvest management company, and Mikhelson became its CEO.
- As of 2019, Leonid Mikhelson was the richest Russian with a fortune of $24 billion. Mikhelson is one of many Russian oligarchs named in the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.
- In 1991, “Kuybyshevtruboprovodstroy” was privatized, and then turned into a joint stock company “Samara national enterprise “Nova”. Mikhelson headed it till October 1994 and then moved to the post of general director of the management company “Novafininvest”, one of the assets of which was the “Nova”.
- “Novafininvest” began to engage in gas production. Mikhelson began buying up shares of association “Purneftegazgeologia, whichowned the license on several sites with large reserves of gas, organized the creation of several new oil and gas enterprises in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. Finally with the active assistance of Joseph Levinsohn (who moved from the post of administrator in “Purneftegazgeologia” to the post of vice-governor of the district) NovaTEK was created which in 1996 began producing oil and gas on the first of its three main fields – East Tarkosalinskoye. In 2002 the operation in theYurkharovskoye deposit began, in 2004 – in the Khancheyskoye.
- Immediately after the establishment of NovaTEK, Mikhelson began to attract investors in the company capital and to organize partnerships. In the spring of 2002 an agreement was reached with the Itera by Igor Makarov in order to merge oil and gas assets, but soon the company refused the deal without explanation. Then Mikhelson planned to sell a blocking stake in NovaTEK to the French Total. However, this transaction was not approved by FAS.
- As a result, Mikhelson preferred the IPO version, and in July 2005, 19% stake in NovaTEK was posted at the LSE. Investors bought shares worth about $ 1 billion, and Mikhelson, received 335 million dollars for his 6.6%. Then there was another deal – the sale of 19.99% stake in Gazprom.
- Mikhelson possesses around 75% of shares in the large Samara bank called OAO “First United Bank (“Pervobank”), which was established in 2006 through the merging of the Nova Bank and “Samara credit” by Andrei Ishchuk.
- Mikhelson received the order of Badge of Honor.
- He enjoys playing volleyball and sponsors the volleyball team “Nova” as well as the soccer team “Wings of Soviets.”
Mikhelson Leonid family
He is married and has a daughter
Mikhelson Leonid crimes
Corrupt relationships with top Russian officials.
Mikhelson Leonid, links and material
In 2005, newspapers reported that “NovaTEK” was at risk of being taken over by Gazprom, which was attempting to become a gas monopolist. At that time, the main owners of NovaTEK were Leonid Mikhelson and Vice-Governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District Joseph Levinson. The vice-governor succumbed to Gazprom’s pressure and gave a stake in NovaTEK to Alexei Miller. Chairman Leonid Simanovsky defended NovaTEK and received strong support from regional authorities, including the governor Vladimir Neelov. NovaTEK’s subsidiary obtained a license to develop the South Russian field, but Gazprom eventually took control of it. “Gazprom” used prosecutors of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District in the fight for NovaTEK, accusing the shareholders of asset stripping and profit concealment. The initiation of criminal proceedings coincided with NovaTEK’s attempt to sell a blocking stake to the Franco-Belgian concern Total – if the shares went to the West, Gazprom would be unable to establish control over the company. The deal with Total did not take place because the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia reversed their earlier resolution. Subsequently, the Franco-Belgian group Total refused the deal with NovaTEK due to the unclear sources of the company's assets.
Source: “Novaya Gazeta” on 04.07.2005
Leonid Mikhelson amassed his wealth by leveraging the connections of his friend, vice-governor of Yamal Joseph Levinsohn, to obtain licenses for gas fields, attract new assets, clarify relationships with large companies, and evade tax claims. Yukos vice-president Leonid Simanovsky provided cover for Mikhelson’s activities in the business world.
Source: Internet resource www.compromat.ru from 23.06.2005
Newspapers reported on the troubles faced by Leonid Mikhelson in 2005, when law enforcement officials seized documents in the offices of NovaTEK in Samara, Salekhard, and Moscow – in connection with the filing of two civil suits by prosecutors of the Yamalo-Nenets region. These suits were related to the alleged unlawful transfer of a 5.6% stake in NovaTEK to VEB, belonging to the Regional Development Fund of Yamal, and in order to challenge the very formation of the fund.
Source: Vedomosti 22.06.2005 www.polit.ru of 06.07.2005
In 2005, Mikhelson’s name was mentioned in connection with litigation in the Stavropol region. The Cyprus company Broadwood Trading & Investments Ltd. (BTI, owns 34% shares of the company “Geoilbent”), acting in the interests of Russneft, accused the leadership of NovaTEK “of violating its pre-emptive right to buy shares” in Geoilbent. NovaTEK was planning to sell its 66% share in “Geoilbent” to the oil company LUKOIL at a lower price, so LUKoil needed approval from the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) for the transaction. To reduce the chances of the second co-owner of OOO “Geoilbent” to challenge the transaction, the management of NovaTEK sold a share in a transaction that did not presuppose the direct purchase: NovaTEK introduced all the papers of the company it owned to the share capital of the oil holding company registered in Salekhard; its owner became a subsidiary structure of LUKOIL. According to newspapers, Mikhelson only maintained the appearance of a tender in order to receive unaccounted additional payments in cash from corporate leaders. There were different versions of why Mikhelson needed money, for instance: to support Mikhail Kasyanov and his future political party, for the divorce process of Mikhelson, or to reduce the traditional portion of his companions Levinzon and Simanovsky.
Source: “Kommersant” № 113 from 23.06.2005
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) pledged the shares of Geoilbent as collateral when NovaTEK took a loan in the late 90s. The bank found out about the sale of the shares from the newspapers. Because the sale violated the loan agreement, the Bank stopped giving regular loans to NovaTEK and said they would do detailed audits in the company. They also said they would go to International Arbitration if there were problems.
Source: www.bigness.ru from 01.07.2005
Since December 2003, Leonid Mikhelson is no longer the owner of the controlling stake in NovaTEK. Before that, Mikhelson had controlling shares in the Cyprus SWGI Growth Fund and the Russian ZAO “Levit”, which are the direct owners of NovaTEK. In December 2003, Leonid Mikhelson's share in “Levit” was reduced to less than 50%, so he stopped being the controlling shareholder of NovaTEK.
Source: “Kommersant” № 113 (3197) on 23.06.2005
In 2005, the newspapers reported on the financial activities in NovaTEK, mentioning Mikhelson’s associates – Leonid Simanovsky and Joseph Levinzon. They claimed that Levinzon had undervalued reserves of gas fields “Yurharovneftegaza” at 9 billion cubic meters in official statements, but when the Yurkharovskoye field came under the control of OAO NovaTEK, it turned out that the reserves were about a trillion cubic meters. Levinzon was accused of manipulating access to lucrative deposits in favor of NovaTEK. For example, after the transfer of “Purneftegazgeologia» to NovaTEK, the equity of the Gazprom subsidiary – Zapsibgazprom, eroded by 30%, and a significant part of investments mysteriously disappeared.
Source: Internet resource www.compromat.ru from 03.06.2005
In November 2003, the Gazprom company “Vermann”, led by Fedor Khoroshilov, won a case for Gazprom in the Supreme Arbitration Court, which annulled the additional issue of shares of AO “Purneftegazgeologia” (PNGG), a subsidiary of Leonid Mikhelson’s NovaTEK. The annulment allowed the minority shareholder of PNGG – Zapsibgazprom, a Gazprom subsidiary, to claim a significant interest in the company, which has licenses for a number of fields.
Source: “New news” from 15.03.2004
In 2005, Leonid Mikhelson, along with the son of St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko, Sergey Matvienko, established OOO “Brend” in the Samara region. One of the projects of the newly created company was the evaluation survey in YaNAO – Oil and Gas Company (OGC) “Gorny” (in which “Brend” had 27.5% of shares) led the evaluation survey in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (YaNAO) on the Voerg-Missyursk site. In 2005, the license for this site was obtained, so by 2012, it was necessary to open and register resources (as per the license), for which 300-400 million rubles per year were needed. OGC started looking for investors and only Mikhelson agreed to work on its terms. Mikhelson did not invite the son of Valentina Matvienko to invest for some unknown reason. At that time, it was still unclear why Mikhelson needed that site – its resources did not exceed 10-20 million tonnes of oil equivalent, the degree of proficiency was very low, and the production conditions were challenging.
Source: Vedomosti 28.04.2008
Some media accused Leonid Mikhelson of orchestrating the scandal involving the construction of a palace in Istra, supposedly owned by Gazprom's head, Alexei Miller. The media suggested that Mikhelson, in an attempt to join Gazprom's board of directors, orchestrated the gathering of compromising material on Miller. This included taking panoramic photos of the palace from a helicopter and covering 32 acres of the palace complex. The smear campaign against Miller coincided with Gazprom shareholders' meeting, aiming to discredit him by showcasing his lavish spending during the economic crisis using public funds. According to journalists, this was Mikhelson's way of executing his plan to join Gazprom's board of directors.
Source: rospres from 27.07.2009
At the same time, there were rumors in the press that due to his close ties with Gazprom, Leonid Mikhelson could secure lucrative gas contracts with consumers. Furthermore, NovaTEK obtained almost exclusive rights to sell gas condensate, while Gazprom could have traded these resources internationally for substantial profits. However, at present, NovaTEK uses gas condensate, apart from a small amount that Gazprom exports to Europe. Journalists speculated that Gazprom's disregard for the gas condensate market could indicate corruption within its management.
Source: rospres from 27.07.2009
Mikhelson's company, NovaTEK, was involved in a case dating back to 2005, concerning embezzlement from “Mezhregiongaz”, a Gazprom subsidiary. Six individuals were defendants in the criminal case, including the deputy director general of “Mezhregiongaz” Igor Dmitriev, the director of the Department of NovaTEK Lyadov Alexander (who passed away in 2007), Galina Sheremet, Ms. Gulyayeva (former CEO and chief accountant of “Trastinvestgaz, TIG), Dmitry Novikov (CEO of TIG), as well as someone named Mr. Kataev who posed as the general director of OOO “Investment Agency “Intellekt i pravo”. They were accused of abusing power and causing property damage.
Source: “Gazeta” on 30.03.2009
Reports claimed that Mikhelson managed to retain his business by relinquishing a share in NovaTEK to Vladimir Putin's friend, Gennady Timchenko. Timchenko's fund, Volga Resources, increased its stake in NovaTEK to 18.2% of shares by purchasing 13.13% of shares from the company Cartagena Development Inc, thereby surpassing the company's management share. This exchange of assets involved Timchenko selling 51% of Yamal LNG at a reduced price to Mikhelson's company, ultimately elevating his stake in NovaTEK. As a result, Leonid Mikhelson had to include Timchenko in the company's board of directors, establishing strategic state control over NovaTEK.
Source: “Kommersant” № 94 (4149) on 28.05.2009, № 93 (4148) from 27.05.2009
NovaTEK tampered with the minutes of the general meeting in OOO “Geoilbent”, allowing them to purchase oil extracted by OOO “Geoilbent” at half the market price. This oil was then exported by OAO “NOVATEK” at market prices, leading to significantly reduced revenue, potential dividends, and payment prospects for the participants. NovaTEK redirected the profits of OOO “Geoilbent” in its own favor and that of third parties.
Source: Kommersant № 120 from 02.07.2005
Journalists referred to Leonid Mikhelson in connection with the scandal surrounding the construction of a sports and fitness complex in the city of Anapa, Krasnodar Krai, which is located in the protected Utrish area. The regional non-profit projects “Dar” fund, controlled by Mikhelson, initiated the construction by leasing the land and signing a contract with OOO “Harvinter”. The public accused the Presidential Property Management Department of Medvedev of destroying nature, and journalists portrayed Mikhelson and his fund as the targets of public anger and the source of funding for the presidential project.
Source: “Living Kuban” on 18/01/2010
Reports in newspapers mentioned Mikhelson's interest in the development project of the Coast of the Gulf of Finland near St. Petersburg. They reported that the company “Severo-Zapad Invest” was planning to participate in a tender and had already won an auction to lease 140 hectares of coastal land from Lisiy Nos to Sestroretsk area for 36 million rubles. “Severo-Zapad Invest” is 70% owned by OOO “Levit”, a company with a major share owned by Leonid Mikhelson.
Source: Newspaper of 17.11.2009
Gennady Timchenko has been increasing his stake in NovaTEK, while a team of NovaTEK managers led by Leonid Mikhelson is losing influence. Two subsidiaries of the Luxembourg Fund Volga Resources, owned by Gennady Timchenko, claimed more than 20% stake in NovaTEK. Leonid Mikhelson's share can be diluted to 24.99% if Volga acquires the additional 13.13% from Cartagena Development Inc., which is controlled by NovaTEK management. Meanwhile, Mikhelson holds a 0.47% personal share and a 5.7% share through OOO “Levit”.
In December 2009, Timchenko's affiliated structures acquired 25.1% of OAO “Yamal LNG” from Gazprombank at a low price, while several years earlier NovaTEK had purchased the shares at a significantly higher price.
Source: www.fedpress.ru on 21.12.09
Mikhelson was mentioned as a potential buyer of the palace of Count Kushelev-Bezborodko on the Kutuzov embankment. The palace was officially acquired by OOO “Tsertum-invest”, a partner of “Tashir” and Gazprombank, co-owner of the Blagovoshensky Valve Plant. This company is owned by 29-year-old Philip Polyansky, who had previously led the regional non-profit projects “Dar” fund controlled by Leonid Mikhelson until 2008.
Source: Vedomosti 26.02.2010
OAO “Gazprom” continues buying up aggressively NovaTEK shares in the market. Gennady Timchenko also works in tandem with Gazprom; their mutual aim is not just strengthening of state control over NovaTEK, but a complete subordination of the company to the state. In particular, the eldest son of the president of Rosneft Alexey Bogdanchikov comes for work in NovaTEK in order to establish control over the company.
Source: www.uralpolit.ru from 27.02. 2010, “Kommersant» № 31 / C (4331) on 24.02.2010
The struggle for the chairs of the heads of ministries in KhMAO (Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous district)-Yugra has intensified because of the new governor. Such an agio is inflated by the structures and officials close to the Leonid Mikhelson and the company NovaTEK. All the manipulations for the development of the conflict and compromising leaking to the media occur by direct participation of the leader of “United Russia” in Khanty-Mansiysk Alexander Sidorov.
Source: UralPolit.Ru on 27.02.10
