Viktor Vekselberg

Viktor Vekselberg: Career Highlights

Vekselberg founded the company Komvek in 1988 after the Gorbachev administration relaxed restrictions on private business. He co-founded Renova Group with college classmates Leonard Blavatnik and Vladimir Balaeskoul in 1990. In the mid-1990s, Vekselberg and Blavatnik accumulated interests in aluminum smelters. In 1996, they co-founded the Siberian-Urals Aluminum Company (SUAL) by merging the Ural and Irkutsk Aluminum Plants.

SUAL later merged with Russian Aluminium of Oleg Deripaska and alumina assets of Glencore to create United Company RUSAL, the world's largest aluminum company. Vekselberg also constructed the first private railway in Russia in 2002 to connect a bauxite mine in the Komi Republic with the Ural Aluminum Plant.

In 1997, Vekselberg created a partnership with Alfa Group for the acquisition of an interest in Tyumen Oil Company (TNK), which later became one of Russia's largest oil and gas companies. He established the AAR consortium with Alfa Group and Access Industries (owned by Blavatnik) to jointly hold oil assets. In 2003, Vekselberg merged Russian oil assets with British Petroleum (BP) to form TNK-BP, the largest private transaction in Russian history. He acted as the chairman of the executive board of TNK and played a key role in negotiating and closing the transaction.

Vekselberg's indirect participation in TNK-BP amounted to 12.5%.

TNK-BP was the third oil & gas company in Russia in the 2000s. He considered the construction of a gas pipeline from the Kovykta gas condensate field through Mongolia to China and South Korea and planned to build a large helium production facility on the basis of the Sayanskkhimplast plant to export helium to Asia-Pacific markets.

In 2006, Renova Group decided to diversify its business and divest from the oil and gas sector to expand its footprint in manufacturing, hi-tech, and renewable energy. Standard & Poor's assigned a 'BB' long-term corporate credit rating to Renova Holding Ltd. in 2007, indicating significant progress in portfolio diversification and liquidity improvement.

After divesting from the oil & gas sector, Vekselberg focused on renewable energy, transport infrastructure, manufacturing, and IoT. He became a pioneer in the Russian solar power sector and inaugurated Platov International Airport in Rostov-on-Don in 2017, the first greenfield airport built in Russia after the collapse of the USSR. In 2019, he opened Gagarin International Airport, the second greenfield airport, in Saratov.

As part of the strategic plan to diversify its business towards hi-tech, Renova Group opened a branch in Zurich, Renova Management AG, in 2004. In July 2006, Vekselberg acquired 10.25% in Unaxis Holding AG (later renamed as OC Oerlikon) from Victory Industriebeteiligung AG. In April 2007, Everest Beteiligungs GmbH, a joint venture of Renova Group and Victory, acquired approximately 18% in shares and an additional 14% in physical delivery options in Sulzer. Victory sold out their stakes in both companies in 2007-2008.

Vekselberg raised his stake in Oerlikon to 44.7% in 2009. The accumulation of stakes in Oerlikon and Sulzer by Renova Group raised concerns with Swiss authorities. However, in 2010, the Federal Criminal Court confirmed that neither Vekselberg nor Victory did any wrongdoing while building stakes in Oerlikon. Additionally, the Federal Department of Finance dropped the criminal proceedings initiated against the three investors in Sulzer in 2009.

In 2008, Vekselberg proxied a deal between the Russian and Hungarian governments, buying the former embassy building from Hungary for $21 million and immediately selling it to the Russian government for $116 million, while the market price was estimated at $50 million.

An investigation by Alexey Navalny and the Rospil project found several invalid and backdated documents, suggesting collusion. Hungarian officials responsible for the deal were detained in February 2011, and a criminal investigation on the Russian side started in August 2013.

In 2010, Vekselberg was appointed President of the Skolkovo Foundation, a non-profit organization funded by private investors and the Russian government to build a technology research hub in Russia. He signed a deal for Cisco Systems to invest $1 billion over ten years into Skolkovo Foundation projects. However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a statement claiming that the Skolkovo Foundation was being used by the Russian government to gain access to classified American technology.