Gennady Timchenko (born 1952) is a Russian businessman and billionaire. He owns the Volga Group investment group founded by him, which specializes in investing in energy, transport and infrastructure assets. Previously, he was a co-owner of the international energy trader Gunvor Group. In 2014, Timchenko ranked 62nd in the ranking of billionaires according to Forbes magazine. As of April of this year, this magazine estimates his net worth at $11.3 billion.
The KHL Chairman of the Board and the president of the SKA club (St. Petersburg) is still the same Gennady Timchenko. The photo below was taken last year and shows him as an open and friendly person.
Youth and family
Gennady Timchenko was born in Armenian Leninakan (now Gyumri) in 1952. His family was quite typical for that time. His father served in the Soviet Army, and several years of his service were in the group of Soviet troops in Germany (GSVG). Therefore, Gena Timchenko spent 6 years of his childhood (in the period 1959-1965) in the GDR, where he learned German, as well as in Ukraine, in the city of Bolgrad in the Odessa region, where his father was subsequently transferred.
Where did Gennady Timchenko go after graduation? His biography continued in Leningrad, where he studied at an elite Soviet university - Leningrad "voenmekh", which trains personnel for enterprises of the military-industrial complex. After graduating in 1976, he became an electrical engineer.
Who is Gennady Timchenko married to? His wife Elena, who is a citizen of Finland, actively helps her husband in his affairs, especially those related to charity. They have three adult children - two daughters and a son.
As of August last year, Timchenko and his wife lived in Moscow in a rented house that was previously the residence of Nikita Khrushchev. He also owns a house in Switzerland, by the way, next door to the famous Ukrainian oligarch I. Kolomoisky.
As Gennady Timchenko himself told ITAR-TASS last year, his son continues to be a citizen of Finland and studies at the University of Geneva.
The path to the heights of business
In 1977, Timchenko began working as an engineer at the Izhora plant in the city of Kolpino near Leningrad. The company then specialized in the production of large power generators for power plants, includingatomic. Since the young specialist spoke German, he was transferred to the sales department of the plant. Here Timchenko began to make a career, and already in 1982 he moved to Moscow to the Ministry of Foreign Trade as a senior engineer in one of the departments of the ministry.
In 1988, when Russia began to liberalize its economy, he was appointed deputy director of the state oil company Kirishineftekhimexport (Kineks), which was established in 1987 on the basis of the Kirishi refinery (Leningrad region), one of the three largest oil refineries in the RSFSR. Timchenko's team built the first routes for the export of certain petroleum products from the USSR to Western countries, and Gennady Timchenko himself became one of the leading figures in the Russian (then Soviet) oil trade. Timchenko was, in fact, a pioneer in the sale of liquid petroleum products to the West, which allowed him to build ways for the movement of commodity-money flows in an almost complete absence of competition, to establish promising ties with an eye on the market future.
And it didn't take long. As soon as the USSR collapsed in 1991, Timchenko left Russia and was hired by Finnish-based Urals Finland Oy, which specializes in importing Russian oil to Europe. He settled in Finland and became a citizen of this country.
This is where the developments of the perestroika period came in handy. Over four years of work, Timchenko rose to the position of first deputy, and then the general director of the company, which became known as International Petroleum Products Oy(IPP). And Gennady Timchenko did not forget about the family. His children, who were born in Finland, a daughter and a son, became its citizens.
This period of activity also includes acquaintance with V. V. Putin, who at that time worked in the mayor's office of St. Petersburg. However, it would be naive to believe that Timchenko's fortune arose thanks to the patronage of the then modest St. Petersburg official. The conditions for the accumulation of initial capital by him were created much earlier, back in the late eighties. While in Finland, Timchenko continued to use the Kirishi refinery as a source for importing oil products to the West, especially since until 1994 he was listed as the head of Kineks.
Having accumulated money from trading Russian oil abroad, in 1996, during the privatization, Timchenko and his partners bought out Kineks. On its basis, in 1997, the trading company Gunvor was founded, specializing in oil trading. In addition to Timchenko, the Swedish businessman Thorbjorn Turnqvist became its second major shareholder. who baffledly bought out Timchenko's stake in the company in March 2014, the day before the U. S. sanctions took action against the latter and his assets.
In 2007, Timchenko founded the private investment fund Volga Resources. Gradually, it developed into the investment group "Volga Group", which consolidated its Russian and international assets in the field of energy, transport, infrastructure, financial services and the consumer sector.
In July 2013, he became a Knight of the French OrderLegion of Honor for organizing a permanent exhibition of Russian art in the Louvre, supporting the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and helping chess players to hold the Alekhine Memorial tournament.
In March last year, after the Crimean referendum, the US Treasury placed Timchenko on a list of individuals identified as "members of the inner circle of the Russian leadership." The sanctions froze all assets he held in the US and banned him from entering that country.
Citizenship
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Timchenko said that in 1999 he ceased to be a Russian citizen and received Finnish citizenship. Helsingin Sanomat wrote in 2004 that he acquired Finnish citizenship while living in Geneva at the time. In October 2012, in an interview with the Russian edition of Forbes, Timchenko said that he was both a Russian and a Finnish citizen. Last August, he told ITAR-TASS that he needed Finnish citizenship to travel abroad in the 1990s, when it was difficult to travel on a Russian passport, and that he never hid the fact that he had two passports. In the United States, the Department of the Treasury, when listing individuals under sanctions in connection with the Crimean events of 2014, lists him as a citizen of Russia, Finland and Armenia.
Gennady Timchenko: condition
He has stakes in various gas, transport and construction organizations. Among his possessions: the Novatek gas company,the petrochemical concern "SIBUR Holding", the railway operator for the transportation of oil products "Transoil", the construction corporation STG Group and the insurance corporation "SOGAZ". He is considered one of the most influential Russian oligarchs, having close ties to V. V. Putin, for which he was sanctioned by the United States as punishment for annexing Crimea to Russia. In response, Timchenko said: "You must be responsible for everything, even for friendship with the president." Until March last year, he was one of the founders of the Gunvor Group, one of the largest international energy traders.
According to the Russian edition of "RBC", in 2012, Timchenko's assets were estimated at $ 24.61 billion.
In addition to business assets, according to media reports, he also owns a property in Geneva with an area of 341 m², which is located on a plot of just over 1 hectare of land. According to the Geneva Land Registry, the purchase price of the property was SFR 8.4 million (approximately $11 million at the time of purchase in 2001).
His income increased tenfold between 1999 and 2001, according to Finnish tax authorities. in 2002, but lived in Russia for the last few years.
Gunvor
Gennady Timchenko was a co-founder of the Gunvor Group corporation, registered in Cyprus and operating in trade and logistics on the international energy market. March 19In 2014, he sold his stake in Gunvor to another co-founder. The sale was made the day before Timchenko was placed on the US sanctions list. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
In November 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York was considering allegations of illegal transactions in which the Gunvor Group bought oil from Russia from Rosneft and sold it to third parties through the US financial system. Gunvor issued a retaliatory statement on November 6, denying any crime.
Volga Group
In 2007, Gennady Timchenko founded the Luxembourg-based Volga Resources Foundation. The fund, which combines the assets of Timchenko, was renamed in June 2013 into the Volga Group investment group, represented at the international economic forum in St. Petersburg. He noted that over the next few years his group will focus on the development of infrastructure projects in Russia.
The Group owns assets in energy, transport and industrial infrastructure, as well as provides financial services, sells consumer goods and real estate. Her most famous investments are in the gas company NOVATEK and the petrochemical company Sibur.
In April last year, Gennady Timchenko sold a 49% stake in the Finnish company IPP Oy, which owned 99% of the Finnish aviation companyAirfix Aviation. It was a small part of the Volga Group portfolio.
Volga Group was listed in the 2014 sanctions list of the US Department of the Treasury (OFAC - Office of Foreign Assets Control).
Sports and he alth business
In July 2013, together with brothers Boris and Arkady Rotenberg, Gennady Timchenko created Arena Events Oy, which bought 100% of the shares of Hartwall Areena, a large sports hall in Helsinki. It also has a multi-storey car park with a capacity of 1,421 private vehicles. The partners also bought a stake in the Jokerit club, whose team became the six-time champion of Finland in the Liiga hockey league's top level. Consequently, the Jokerit were transferred to the Kontinental Hockey League for the 2014-15 season, where they played in the Western Conference in the Bobrov Division.
Community activities and charity
What else is Gennady Timchenko known for? His biography will be incomplete, if not to say a few words about his patronage. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society.
In 1998, he became one of the co-founders of the Yavara-Neva judo club.
In 2007, Timchenko and Surgutex founded the Klyuch charitable foundation, which supports family orphanages in Leningrad, Tambov and Ryazan regions.
In 2008, the Neva Foundation was founded in Geneva by the Timchenko couple in order to support and finance cultural projects in Switzerland and Russia. The main direction of work was a partnership with the Geneva Opera. The well-known conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Yuri Temirkanov was his trustee.
In 2010, they also created the Ladoga Foundation. Its main activity was aimed at helping the elderly, as well as restoring historical monuments, supporting cultural projects and introducing modern medicine technologies. Since September 2013, the Ladoga Foundation has been called the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation. Reviews in the press indicate that its activities correspond to the declared direction, and the founders of the fund finance it on a regular basis.
Timchenkr is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Museum and the Tolerance Center in Moscow.
Sports and hobbies
Timchenko loves to play and watch tennis. Through his former Finnish company IPP, he has sponsored an open tennis tournament in Finland since 2000. According to some reports, he was a sponsor of the Finnish team in the Davis Cup and financed a number of Russian tennis players.
In April 2011, Timchenko became the chairman of the board of directors of the HK SKA (St. Petersburg), replacing Alexander Medvedev. In May of the same year, as part of the club's new management structure, he was named president of the club.
In July 2012, he replaced Vyacheslav Fetisov as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the KHL.
Awards
October 12, 2013 Timchenko received the French Legion of Honor. This award gave rise toRussian opposition publicist and writer Andrei Piontkovsky to write in his blog on Ekho Moskvy that “… awarding a criminal with the nickname Gangren with the highest distinction of the country covers the French state with disgrace.” Only one thing is not clear: from which finger Piontkovsky sucked this "gangrene". Timchenko, of course, is not an angel, but he obviously made his capital not in the criminal environment, but among the Soviet party nomenclature, which took advantage of the "Gorbachev" perestroika to accumulate its initial capital.
Can I chat with Timchenko online?
In an interview with ITAR-TASS on August 4, 2014, Timchenko stated that he does not use a computer, unlike his wife Elena, who has her own email address. According to him, she receives up to one and a half hundred letters a day and tries to answer everything. Imagine how many letters Gennady Timchenko himself could receive! Contact with him is not available to the general public for this reason.
It turns out that this oligarch is a very private figure. Actually, this is a very convenient position, which Gennady Timchenko took advantage of. Contacts, mail - all this carries the potential risks of information leakage about his business, which, in the conditions of very intense competition, can cause irreparable harm to him. That is why Timchenko is in no hurry to reveal himself to the public. However, if someone is eager to communicate with him, then you can try to write to the email address of the Timchenko Foundation: [email protected].
