Russia’s nickel king makes gold from forced sales of companies
Vladimir Potanin has criticized the confiscation of assets of firms leaving the country… but he takes advantage of them
Russia’s war in the Ukraine is already producing winners. Norilsk Nickel’s CEO, Vladimir Potanin, has executed his third acquisition since the invasion began on February 24. The billionaire is not the only Kremlin-friendly oligarch lucky enough not to be sanctioned by Washington.
Potanin, whose net worth is 16 billion euros according to Forbes estimates, has spoken out against the confiscation of the assets of companies leaving Russia, warning that it could repeat the turmoil of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. But That hasn’t stopped him from taking advantage of the opportunity to buy them.
On Monday, his holding company Interros said it had bought United Card Services, the Russian unit of US fintech group Global Payments, for an undisclosed sum. Previously, he had acquired 35% of TCS Group Holding, which owns the online bank Tinkoff, and the Rosbank unit of Société Générale.
Had he been on America’s dreaded Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list, like his archenemy Oleg Deripaska, paying him would have been nearly impossible for anyone wanting to continue doing business with the United States. Potanin made his first millions from the shockingly unfair privatizations of the 1990s. He has also been photographed watching ice hockey with President Vladimir Putin. Canada and Australia considered that there was sufficient reason to include it in the black list.
Washington may be giving itself room to tighten sanctions. Or it could be because of Potanin’s role at the helm of €45 billion Norilsk Nickel, the world’s biggest producer of the metal. US sanctions-makers had to take an embarrassing 180-degree turn after the 2018 Deripaska crackdown contaminated Rusal, one of the world’s largest aluminum producers, creating chaos in the aluminum market. material.
Whatever the reason, Potanin is not the only billionaire still missing from the blacklist. Washington has not yet sanctioned Vladimir Lisin, the majority owner of €13bn Novolipetsk Steel, or the €44bn chairman of Novatek, Leonid Mikhelson, who grew rich from post-Soviet privatizations.
Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov, business partners of Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea, also became rich in metals and mining and now have the opportunity to multiply their billions.
Western groups such as BP and Shell have said they are leaving Russia, but have not detailed how. As in the 1990s, that puts billionaires like Potanin among the handful of potential buyers in a forced seller’s market. If Uncle Sam doesn’t catch up quickly, they might just put their boots back on.
