Igor Kolomoisky is a Ukrainian businessman, co-owner and member of the Supervisory Board of Privatbank. In addition, this businessman also owns a large number of other assets that are part of the conventionally called Privat group. In particular, he is a co-owner of the 1 + 1 media group operating in Ukraine, holds the position of chairman of the supervisory board of the Dnipro football club, and is also vice president of the entire Football Federation of Ukraine. Today, he is one of the we althiest citizens of Israel and Ukraine.
Starting a business
Igor Kolomoisky was born in 1963 on February 13 in Dnepropetrovsk, where he lives to this day. In 1985, he was educated at the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute, after which he was awarded the speci alty of a metallurgical engineer. Further, in his own words, Igor Kolomoisky worked at a variety of enterprises, but the media says that even then his business career began, according to some reports, by 1991 he managed toearn the first million by trading in computers, as well as various organizational equipment.
Over time, he continued to do business, as a result of which he built one of the most influential and powerful industrial and financial empires on the territory of Ukraine. The media constantly noted his leading position in the Privat group, and this concerned not only the share of ownership, but also the direct participation of the businessman in making various decisions.
Opening "Privatbank"
The foundation of this group is the Privatbank bank, which was founded in 1992 by Igor Kolomoisky himself, as well as his co-founders - Leonid Miloslavsky, Gennady Bogolyubov, and Alexei Martynov, and the latter is no longer a co-owner of this business. It is worth noting the fact that another founder of Privatbank is businessman Serhiy Tigipko, no less famous in Ukraine, who was also its shareholder.
As Aleksey Martynov himself said, after Tigipko left for the government, the shareholders completely bought out his share of the business. According to some reports, Tigipko got a certain part of the assets of the Privat group, including also the Kyiv-Privat bank, which later became the basis for the TAS financial group.
Private
Giving an interview to Zerkalo Nedeli back in 2005, Igor Kolomoisky said that he personally owned approximately 30% of the total number of bank shares, and in the same interviewthe Privat group was called by him a phantom and an exclusively journalistic term that has no basis. According to him, as in any other case, the shareholders of Privatbank also have other business, in addition to banking, while there is no connection between them. However, regardless of this, to this day Kolomoisky Igor Valeryevich is mentioned in the press as one of the co-owners of the phantom group Privat.
Press statements
Already at the time of July 2006, Kolomoisky said that he owns approximately 46% of the total number of shares of his own bank, and in 2007, during the journalistic investigation, it was noted that he had 41% of the shares of this bank, as well as many stakes in six Ukrainian oblenergos (approximately 20% each), while together with his partners he also owns 41% of the shares of Dneproazot, Ukrnafta and many others. In particular, he owns a controlling stake in Neftekhimik Prykarpattya, Galicia and others.
In the same 2007, it was said that the Privat group has about 20% of the total production capacity in the production of ferroalloys around the world, and in December of this year, Igor Kolomoisky (photo shown above) joined the Evraz Group business of Alexander Abramov and Roman Abramovich (the media said that he owns up to 10% of the company's shares). The total value of all enterprises belonging to the Privat group at the moment was more than $13 billion.
In 2009 the sitePrivatbank posted information regarding its shareholders, which stated that 49% of all shares in the company belong to Igor Kolomoisky, while 48% belongs to his partner Bogolyubov. That is why Bogolyubov was always known as an equal partner of this businessman, and it was also known that they had been cooperating on such terms for over 20 years.
How does he run his business?
The unique style of doing business that Igor Kolomoisky followed has always been noted. The biography of a businessman, as well as the words of experts, indicate that he is running a rather tough business, trying to defend his own interests to the smallest detail and at the same time he can revise the rules of the game in the course of this very game. The name of the businessman has repeatedly figured in a number of different conflicts, including also litigation with Viktor Pinchuk, which unfolded around the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant. In addition, in 2005 he was also a participant in a lawsuit with the co-owners of the 1 + 1 TV channel regarding the fact that he owns 70% of this media asset.
Kolomoisky and CME
In 2007, the Kolomoisky family of Igor Valerievich received a 3% stake in the largest television company in Eastern Europe, CME, for which they paid $ 110 million. This company owns various leading television companies operating in Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, and also controls the work of the 1 + 1 channel, andKolomoisky was also included in the board of directors.
In 2008, CME announced that a 30% stake in the 1+1 TV channel was bought from Fuchsman and Rodnyansky at a price of $219.6 million, while $140 million of this amount belonged to Igor Kolomoisky and represented compensation for an option to buy part of the shares in "1 + 1", which was never exercised by him. Subsequently, another 10% stake in this TV channel was purchased.
According to information as of April 2009, Igor Kolomoisky received an even larger share of the shares in CME. The businessman's family owned 4% of the shares of this organization.
Media business
In July 2009, Kolomoisky decides that 100% of the shares of the TET TV channel will be transferred to CME, after which he invested $ 100 million in the development of the 1 + 1 media group. Thus, this media group included, in addition to the 1 + 1 TV channel itself, also such channels as TET, Kino, 1 + 1 International, and 49% of the shares of this group were owned by Kolomoisky, in while 51% of the shares were owned by CME.
In January 2010, it became known that Igor Kolomoisky would receive 100% of the shares of the Kino and 1+1 TV channels from CME. Biography: The family paid $300 million for this deal, and in addition, $19 million was also paid to allow 1+1 to operate during the transition period.
Among other media assets owned by Kolomoisky, it is worth highlighting the "Newspaper in Kiev", as well as the notorious news agency UNIAN. Above allamong other things, along with the well-known businessman Vadim Rabinovich, Igor Kolomoisky also had his own TV channel Jewish News 1, which has been broadcasting simultaneously in eight languages since September 2011.
Airbusiness
It should also be noted that Kolomoisky is the owner of a fairly large number of airlines. In particular, in 2009 he acquired 22% of the shares owned by the Ukrainian company AeroSvit, while already in 2010 he owned approximately 52% of the total number of shares of the Ukrainian Aviation Group, which includes, in addition to AeroSvit itself, also Donbassaero and Dniproavia.
In the same year, the businessman acquired the Swedish company Skyways, and the media reported that he is also the owner of the Swedish airline City Airline. In 2011, the businessman also decided to buy a 70% stake in an airline from Denmark called Cimber Sterling. In May 2012, all foreign companies owned by Kolomoisky declared themselves bankrupt.
Crime
The leaders of the "Privat" group attempted to resolve a number of conflict situations not only through the courts. It was often noted that she appeared in a variety of scandals around all kinds of raider attacks, and in particular this applies to the Kremenchug steel plant, as well as the Dnepropetrovsk oil extraction plant. Among other things, Igor Valerievichwas also mentioned as one of the defendants in the forcible seizure of the Ozerka market in Dnepropetrovsk.
In general, experts say that Kolomoisky's business is closed, and the entrepreneur himself in most cases prefers to keep various intricate schemes typical for doing business in the early 90s of the twentieth century.
It is worth noting the fact that Igor Kolomoisky acted as a defendant in a criminal case in 2003. He was accused of allegedly threatening Sergei Karpenko, a lawyer and director of the Fargo Dnepropetrovsk consulting company. According to the media, Karpenko tried to apply to law enforcement agencies in order to be provided with protection from the businessman's threats, but all these attempts were unsuccessful. In the same year, an attempt was made on the lawyer, as a result of which he was seriously injured, but not fatally.
In the summer of 2005, it was also decided to initiate a criminal case against Kolomoisky. This time he was accused of ordering the murder of Karpenko.
What did the businessman himself say about this?
Kolomoisky has repeatedly said that everything that is happening is directly related to Konstantin Grigorishin's threats to arrest the businessman if he refuses to provide Grigorishin with a power of attorney to manage the shares of various energy companies.
After a few days, a new decision was made regarding the criminal case: it was decided simply notexcite, as the investigation could not find any evidence that the businessman was somehow involved in the assassination attempt on Karpenko.
Politics
There is the most conflicting information regarding Kolomoisky's political guidelines. It is authentically known that he actively supported the "orange camp" of politicians in Ukraine, since he himself said that he spent about $ 5 million to support the revolution. According to observers, the businessman initially sympathized with Yulia Tymoshenko, since she is his countrywoman, but over time, he still supported the team of Viktor Yushchenko, who became president of Ukraine.
One way or another, the media have repeatedly said that Kolomoisky in any situation finds allies in the current government, regardless of who currently rules the country, and at the same time tries not to rely on any particular political leader.
In 2014, Igor Kolomoisky became the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, but left this post in 2015 after a scandal with insulting a journalist.
In October 2008, it was decided to elect Igor Kolomoisky as the President of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine. The former leader was the aforementioned Vadim Rabinovich, who was the head of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress. It was reported that Kolomoisky would be present in this position for the next four years. In subsequent years, the businessman was elected chairman of the European Jewish Union, andalso the European Council of Jewish Communities.
Family
As you know, Igor Kolomoisky received citizenship from Ukraine and Israel at the same time. His children are citizens of other countries. Kolomoisky, according to him, lives between London, Kyiv and Geneva. As you know, the wife of Igor Kolomoisky, like his entire family, has been living in Switzerland for a long time, namely in Geneva. The daughter is already married, but the businessman has no grandchildren yet.
“The daughter is not going to give birth until the age of 30, because they, in the West, do not accept it,” Igor Kolomoisky conveys her words. The businessman himself had children much earlier than this age: when the first child was born, he was only 22 years old. As the businessman himself says: "The daughter believes that she still has a margin of time and there is nowhere to rush." Kolomoisky's wife Igor Valeryevich Irina married him when the businessman was only 20 years old. We must give this man credit, unlike many of his business colleagues, he is closely connected with his family and did not exchange it for anything.
Be that as it may, Igor Kolomoisky is an interesting and unique personality for the modern world. That's why it's so interesting to read about him.
