, Alexey Kuzmichev , German Khan

K:Companies founded in 1989

Alfa Group Consortium- one of the largest financial and industrial groups in Russia. The headquarters is located in Moscow.

Story

Alfa Group in its history has often participated in corporate wars, in particular:

Owners and management

The parent structure of the consortium is the Gibraltar CTF Holdings Ltd., which controls the assets of Alfa Group through a chain of offshore companies. At the same time, more than 40% of CTF Holdings is owned by Mikhail Fridman, and large blocks of shares are also owned by the executive director of TNK-BP German Khan and the chairman of the board of directors of A1 Group Alexei Kuzmichev.

Activity

Alfa Group controls the following assets:

• A1 (until 2005 it was called "Alfa-Eco") - an investment company, was founded in 1989 as the first and main structure of the consortium. It operates as an independent and main investment division of the group, during its history it has implemented more than 30 large-scale projects in the Russian Federation and the CIS, many of which have become part of the parent company. Since 2009, she began working with problem assets of Alfa-Bank in the amount of more than $1 billion received after debt restructuring, also being interested in undervalued non-public assets with various risks (corporate, financial, legal, administrative). Owns the car dealer Nezavisimost (50%), the cinema chains Kronverk Cinema and Formula Kino (55.66%), the Systematics IT company, the largest BelMarket supermarket chain in Belarus, etc. and a turkey meat producer "Eurodon" (40%).
• Alfa Capital Partners is a private equity investment company. Manages three funds that invest money from private clients.
• telecommunications company Altimo (owns 24.998% in VimpelCom Ltd., which controls Vympel-Communications, Kyivstar, Wind Telecom);
• the federal network of multidisciplinary medical centers "Alfa Health Center";
• Alfa Capital management company;
• Venture fund "Russian Technologies";
• Rosvodokanal group.

The group also owns shares in the following companies:

The group's consolidated revenue in 2010 under IFRS amounted to $11.9 billion (in 2009 - $9.2 billion), net profit - $2.8 billion ($3.3 billion).

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An excerpt characterizing Alfa Group

Princess Mary spent one half of the day at Nikolushka's, following his lessons, herself giving him lessons in Russian and music, and talking with Desalle; the other part of the day she spent in her half with books, with the old nurse, and with God's people, who sometimes came to her from the back porch.
Princess Mary thought about the war the way women think about war. She was afraid for her brother who was there, she was horrified, not understanding her, before the human cruelty that forced them to kill each other; but she did not understand the significance of this war, which seemed to her the same as all previous wars. She did not understand the significance of this war, despite the fact that Dessalles, her constant interlocutor, who was passionately interested in the course of the war, tried to explain his considerations to her, and despite the fact that the people of God who came to her all spoke with horror in their own way about popular rumors about the invasion of the Antichrist, and despite the fact that Julie, now Princess Drubetskaya, who again entered into correspondence with her, wrote patriotic letters to her from Moscow.
“I am writing to you in Russian, my good friend,” Julie wrote, “because I have hatred for all the French, as well as for their language, which I cannot hear speak ... We in Moscow are all enthusiastic through enthusiasm for our adored emperor.
My poor husband endures labor and hunger in Jewish taverns; but the news I have makes me even more excited.
You probably heard about the heroic deed of Raevsky, who embraced his two sons and said: “I will die with them, but we will not hesitate! And indeed, although the enemy was twice as strong as us, we did not hesitate. We spend our time as best we can; but in war, as in war. Princess Alina and Sophie sit with me all day long, and we, the unfortunate widows of living husbands, have wonderful conversations over lint; only you, my friend, are missing ... etc.
Mostly, Princess Mary did not understand the full significance of this war because the old prince never spoke about it, did not recognize it, and laughed at dinner at Desalles, who spoke about this war. The prince's tone was so calm and sure that Princess Mary, without reasoning, believed him.
Throughout the month of July, the old prince was extremely active and even lively. He laid another new garden and new building, building for courtyards. One thing that bothered Princess Marya was that he slept little and, having changed his habit of sleeping in the study, every day he changed the place of his lodging for the night. Now he ordered his camp bed to be made in the gallery, now he remained on the sofa or in the Voltaire chair in the living room and dozed without undressing, while not m lle Bourienne, but the boy Petrusha read to him; then he spent the night in the dining room.
On August 1, a second letter was received from Prince Andrei. In the first letter, received shortly after his departure, Prince Andrei humbly asked for forgiveness from his father for what he allowed himself to tell him, and asked him to return his favor to him. The old prince answered this letter with an affectionate letter, and after this letter he alienated the Frenchwoman from himself. The second letter of Prince Andrei, written from near Vitebsk, after the French had occupied it, consisted of a brief description of the entire campaign with a plan drawn in the letter, and of considerations about the further course of the campaign. In this letter, Prince Andrei presented to his father the inconvenience of his position close to the theater of war, on the very line of movement of troops, and advised him to go to Moscow.
At dinner that day, in response to the words of Dessalles, who said that, as he heard, the French had already entered Vitebsk, the old prince remembered Prince Andrei's letter.
“I received it from Prince Andrei today,” he said to Princess Marya, “didn’t you read it?”
“No, mon pere, [father],” the princess answered frightened. She couldn't read letters she hadn't even heard about receiving.
“He writes about this war,” said the prince with that contemptuous smile that had become accustomed to him, with which he always spoke about a real war.
“It must be very interesting,” Desalles said. - The prince is able to know ...
– Ah, very interesting! said m lle Bourienne.
“Go and bring it to me,” the old prince turned to m lle Bourienne. - You know, on a small paperweight table.
M lle Bourienne jumped up happily.
“Oh no,” he yelled, frowning. - Come on, Mikhail Ivanovich.
Mikhail Ivanovich got up and went into the study. But as soon as he left, the old prince, looking around uneasily, threw down his napkin and went himself.
“They don’t know how to do anything, they mix everything up.
While he was walking, Princess Mary, Dessalles, m lle Bourienne and even Nikolushka looked at each other in silence. The old prince returned with a hasty step, accompanied by Mikhail Ivanovich, with a letter and a plan, which he, not allowing anyone to read during dinner, put beside him.
Going into the living room, he handed the letter to Princess Marya and, laying out before him the plan of the new building, on which he fixed his eyes, ordered her to read it aloud. After reading the letter, Princess Mary looked inquiringly at her father.
He stared at the plan, apparently deep in thought.
- What do you think about it, prince? Desalle allowed himself to ask a question.
- I! I! .. - as if unpleasantly waking up, said the prince, not taking his eyes off the plan of construction.
- It is quite possible that the theater of war will come so close to us ...
– Ha ha ha! Theater of War! - said the prince. - I said and I say that the theater of war is Poland, and the enemy will never penetrate further than the Neman.
Desalles looked with surprise at the prince, who was talking about the Neman, when the enemy was already at the Dnieper; but Princess Mary, who had forgotten the geographical location of the Neman, thought that what her father was saying was true.
- When the snow grows, they will drown in the swamps of Poland. They just can’t see,” the prince said, apparently thinking about the campaign of 1807, which, as it seemed, was so recent. - Benigsen should have entered Prussia earlier, things would have taken a different turn ...

In the TOP 10 most significant credit institutions Russian Federation includes Alfa-Bank. It has regional offices throughout Russia and the former CIS countries. It ranks first among private commercial organizations in terms of assets. He renders everything Banking services population and legal entities for over 20 years.

The first permission to operate was obtained in 1991. Difficult economic conditions emerging in Russia did not affect his work even in 1998. In many ways, this is the merit of competent leadership. Who exactly makes management decisions in Alfa-Bank - read on.

The financial institution is registered in the Russian Federation as a joint stock company. This means that the level of influence of shareholders depends on the number of valuable papers in the briefcase. In order to understand who owns the bank, let's look at who owns the controlling stake.

A larger volume of almost 99.9% of the securities is held by AB Holding JSC (Russia), the rest is owned by Alfa Capital Holdings (Cyprus) Limited.

But it is still too early to draw conclusions, since real organizations are led by other people. Therefore, it cannot be said that these two companies are the owners of Alfa-Bank. And knowing their owners, you can understand who really is at the head of a commercial organization.

The majority owner of Alfa-Bank shares is AB Holding JSC. Date of establishment 2004. The company is registered in Russia. Its authorized capital is more than 71 billion rubles. The company plays an intermediary role in the entire chain of owners of Alfa-Bank, since its majority shareholder is ABH Financial Limited (Cyprus). The nominal owner does not make major management decisions, although his share is significant. Its main task is to conceal information about the true owners of a financial institution.

Alfa Capital Holdings (Cyprus) Limited

The holding is registered in Cyprus and owns 0.11% of the bank's shares. Thus, in the financial institution of interest to us there is an insignificant part of foreign investments.

Date of foundation 1970 Place of registration - Cyprus. Authorized capital 212,000 rubles. Annual turnover is about 618 million rubles. Has a subsidiary based in Cyprus: Alfa Capital Holdings. The owner of the majority of the shares, which is over 97%, is considered to be ABC Holdings S.A. ABH Financial Limited is the indirect majority owner of Alfa-Bank.

The holding is registered in Luxembourg, where the head office is located. It included several companies engaged in financial business on about. Cyprus and the UK. ABH provides all activities related to banking and financial services. The owners of the shares of ABC Holdings S.A. are physical. persons (over 86% of securities are owned by Russian citizens) and two foreign organizations.

From the entire chain of joint-stock companies, it can be concluded that most of Alfa-Bank's securities are concentrated in AB Holding JSC. At the same time, the company itself is only a nominal owner and does not participate in the main management issues of the bank, just like its indirect owner ABH Financial Limited. All these companies are offshore and their goal is to hide the real owner of Alfa-Bank.

Shareholders

Most of the owners of the last offshore organization ABH Holdings S.A. are Russian citizens. Therefore, it can be argued that Alfa-Bank is run by Russians.

Fridman Mikhail Maratovich owns 32.86% of the shares. In the 90s, together with his comrades, he formed Alfa-Bank. Since 1991, he has been at the head of the Board of Directors, promoting a commercial organization on the territory of Belarus. A big businessman, one of the wealthiest people in the world.

Owner of 21% of Alfa-Bank. He is in 12th place among the billionaires of Russia according to Forbes 2018. From his student days, German Borisovich became friends with Fridman M.M. and Kuzmichev A.V. He was invited by one of his comrades to work at Alfa Eco. So, began his career in a financial institution.

Owner of 16.32% of shares. For a long time he worked in Europe, was engaged in the Babylon project (preservation of historical monuments in Iraq). He is a major shareholder of X5 RG, Vimpelcom. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of Alfa-Bank, controls the international trading operations of Alfa Group. He is a zealous supporter of transparent pricing for petroleum products.

Owner of 12.4% of shares. He joined Alfa-Bank as President in 1994. He stayed in this position until 2011. He did a lot to promote the business. Included in the 20 richest people in Russia. Aven P.O. is a statesman, entrepreneur, and a major collector of Russian art. Representative of the Board of AlfaStrakhovanie and ABH Holdings S.A., member of the Board of Directors of Alfa-Bank.

Owner of almost 4% of securities. He has dual citizenship: Russian and Estonian. He occupied major management positions in a commercial organization, was a member of the Ukrainian Supervisory Board.

From the foregoing, we conclude that Alfa-Bank is not directly controlled by Russian citizens, controlling it through their companies registered abroad. They own more than 86% of the securities. The rest of the shares are divided among foreign organizations: the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research (3.7%) and UniCredit S.p.A. (9.9%).

President of Alfa Bank

Alfa-Bank does not provide for the position of the President, but very often the media attribute this position to Petr Olegovich Aven. It is believed that it is his word that is decisive in the discussion of key issues.

The Board includes large shareholders of Alfa-Bank and experienced managers who develop the company's development paths and set goals. Members of the Board must be able to quickly detect future risks and, based on this, plan strategies and future profits for the company. They are endowed with certain responsibilities, between them there is a clear delineation of spheres of influence in business.

Chairman of the Board of Alfa-Bank, member of the Board of Directors of ABH Holdings S.A. is an . Permanently resides in his homeland in the Czech Republic. He joined the joint-stock company in 2011. His main duties are related to the management of the entrusted division, the development of business strategy.

The first deputy chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfa-Bank is. He has been working in a commercial organization for many years since 1999. Prior to that, he held major government positions in the Government and the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation. Its main activity is the development of the regional sector.

Several key managers of Alfa-Bank make up the Board of Directors and at the same time are the Chairman of the Board of Directors of ABH Holdings S.A.:

Petr Olegovich Aven. Previously served as President of this financial organization. The position has now been abolished and is no longer available. He owns one of the largest stock portfolios in the bank.

Under his control are financial questions, work with investors.

Shareholder of Alfa-Bank, a major businessman. Leads a new direction: specialized mortgage bank. Responsible for investment matters.

Mikhail Maratovich Fridman. Refers to the largest holders of securities of the joint-stock bank. He is its founder.

He is the CEO of a financial institution. Until 2004, he worked in several large foreign organizations. His area of ​​responsibility: development and implementation of strategies aimed at the future, establishing priority business formation.

He joined Alfa-Bank recently in 2017. He is in charge of the development of remote customer service.

Chief Executive Officer of Alfa-Bank

The duties of the CEO are quite extensive. All of them can be divided into the following areas:

1. Strategic development of the company.
2. The choice of the main course of the financial institution.
3. Control of central structures responsible for priority areas.

The CEO of Alfa-Bank is responsible for medium- and long-term business development, controls the implementation of the tasks set in key vectors:

1. The number of the Bank's clients.
2. The total volume of loans issued and investments received.
3. Calculation of net profit and assets.

bank board

Members of the Management Board are responsible for the operational coordination of business. Since 2011, he has been the Chairman of the Board invariably.

His responsibilities:

1. Management of the administrative and commercial direction in the Bank.
2. Control of the formation of regional networks.
3. Interaction with government officials at various levels.
4. Managing senior managers in the department.

Members of the Management Board supervise the areas of activity assigned to them. All of them are highly qualified managers. Many of them have been working at Alfa-Bank for more than 10 years.

Deputy Sokolova A.B., as well as the head of the Legal Department.

For several years he worked at Alfa-Bank. For a while, he moved to another commercial organization. He returned in 2006. He holds the position of co-head of the Corporate Investment Bank. Lawyer by education, Ph.D.

He joined the financial institution recently in 2013. Currently he is the Chief Financial Officer of the Bank. Responsible for financial and financial statements. Engaged in the implementation of long-term strategic plans.

Denis Vladimirovich Osin. He is the head of "Small and medium corporate business".

Alfa-Bank is owned to a greater extent by Fridman M.M., Khan G.B., Aven P.O. They occupy key managerial positions, own a large block of shares, and successfully manage a financial institution from its very foundation.

Alfa-Bank is managed by the Board of Directors and the Management Board. Top managers are experienced leaders, each of whom is responsible for certain areas of development in all regional offices.

Structure, positions, management

At present, the core of the consortium consists of five companies of the so-called "first level": Alfa-Bank, Alfa-Capital voucher investment fund and the eponymous Management Company, the Alfa-Eco trading company, the Alfa-Estate real estate and development company, the Alfa-Art company for the sale of works of art.
The nuclear companies, according to the official version of the consortium, are both formally and actually independent of each other. The main type of relationship between them is the coordination of activities, which is ensured through informal contacts between leaders.
The second level consists of subsidiaries of the group's nuclear companies. They enter the group only if it is possible to establish full control over them.
The industrial component of the consortium until the summer of 1997. was represented by several dozen enterprises controlled mainly by Alfa-Eco and Alfa-Capital (through the ownership of large blocks of shares, a system of contracts, or other means). Most of these enterprises belong to the food (sugar factories and the largest tea-packing factories in Russia), cement, glass, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The degree of control of the nuclear companies of the consortium over "their" enterprises and participation in their management varies greatly for different enterprises. The activity of the consortium is most widely known in the cement and sugar industries, for which special structures "Alfa-Sakhar" and "Alfa-Cement" were created.
Summer 1997 Alfa Group acquired at an investment competition a 40% stake in the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK), the real economic significance and value of which is many times greater than all the assets that the group had before. (And this makes it necessary, at least, not to immediately reject the hypothesis that in the case of TNCs, it is not an independent strategic investor, but either a member of an undisclosed consortium, or even just an intermediary.)
That same summer, the group participated in an auction for the sale of a 25% stake in Svyazinvest and was defeated. Nevertheless, it has already announced its intention to participate in the auction for the next block of shares, which will take place in 1998. The seriousness of Alfa Group's intentions in the telecommunications business is also evidenced by the fact that even before the announcement of the results of the competition for Svyazinvest, Alfa Capital announced its intention to participate in the privatization of Ukrtelecom.
In August-September 1997, according to some reports, Alfa Capital aggressively bought up shares from small holders of JSC Rybinsk Motors (simultaneously with ONEXIMbank). Observers attributed this to an attempt to establish control over one of the three largest aircraft engine plants in Russia and associated it with a possible sale in the near future of a 37% state-owned stake in this joint-stock company.
The main governing body of the consortium is the board of directors, which includes the chief executives of nuclear companies and some other persons responsible for the functional areas of the entire group. For the spring of 1996 it included: P. Aven - President of Alfa-Bank, L. Vid - Chairman of the Board of Alfa-Bank, G. Khan - President of Alfa-Eco, A. Fine - General Director of Alfa-Eco, A. Kosogov - general director of Alfa Capital, B. Kiperman - general director of Alfa Estate, as well as M. Bezelyansky and A. Shelukhin.
The undisputed and sole leader of the Alfa Group Consortium is M. Fridman. He holds the positions of chairman of the boards of directors of the entire consortium, as well as Alfa Bank.
M. Fridman is one of the few Russian business leaders who for a long time preferred to manage his "empire" from the shadows (at the same time, his real influence in the consortium was known and he did not hide it). He very rarely appeared at public events, did not appear in the press, did not participate in any socio-political initiatives of entrepreneurs, and did not hold any public posts. M. Fridman began to appear in the public space only in 1996. At the same time, his entry into the public arena was quite loud (appearance at the laying of the synagogue on Poklonnaya Gora, holding leadership positions in Jewish public organizations) and politics (one of the signatories of the "Break the Deadlock" statement). As a result, he immediately became one of the most politically influential Russian businessmen.
The center of the "Alfa Group Consortium" today, without a doubt, is Alfa Bank. (Although, according to the official version of the consortium, the bank treats its other members in the same way as the rest of its clients.) our opinion, "Alfa-Eco" (at the beginning it was the main one) and "Alfa-Capital".

Alfa Bank

Created in 1991 At the beginning of 1994 for the first time appears in the list of the hundred largest banks in Russia immediately in 31st place. Since then, it has been constantly improving its position in this list, rising to 11th place in four years. According to the magazine "Expert", in 1994. it was one of the fastest growing banks in Russia, then became less dynamic. Permanently included in the group of banks of the highest reliability (category LA1).
Alfa-bank characterizes itself as universal commercial Bank not controlled by other members of the consortium.
For a long time, Alfa-Bank held a leading position in the country in private transactions with foreign debts of the former USSR. According to P. Aven, success in this direction is determined by the fact that the bank employs a powerful group of specialists from Sovfintrade - "a structure specially created by Vnesheconombank of the USSR for trading papers." (Recall that another part of Sovfintrade became one of the subsidiary banks of Gazprom.) In 1997. Alfa-Bank took part in the placement of Eurobonds of the governments of Russia and Moscow.
Alfa-Bank also works with regional authorities. In 1996 he became the organizer and guarantor of attracting a syndicated loan from a consortium of German banks in the amount of 300 million dollars to the Komi Republic. for funding investment projects on its territory. At the beginning of 1997 articles appeared in the press about the contradictions between the republican government and the bank and that its services could be refused. In our opinion, such contradictions, as well as the use of the media to put pressure on a partner, are quite natural: the republican government is most interested in lending to its projects, and the bank is the most reliable and profitable.
The increased regional activity of Alfa-Bank falls on the summer-autumn of 1997. During this period, he signed an agreement with the administrations of three key regions: St. Petersburg (and at the same time opened his branch there), Tatarstan and Nizhny Novgorod region(assuming, in particular, joint work to attract investment in the industry of the region). In the same period, Alfa-Bank won a tender for the right to become an authorized bank of the Leningrad Region (among other major Moscow banks).
Alfa-Bank not only signed an agreement with the government of Tatarstan to organize the placement of republican Eurobonds, but also agreed to open a credit line of 300 billion rubles under its guarantee. KAMAZ to replenish working capital. The allocation of such a large loan to a "lying" enterprise indicates either close contacts between the bank and the region, or at least very serious intentions.

Alfa-Eco and Alfa-Capital

"Alfa-Eco" from the very beginning was one of the largest Russian trading companies. Specializes in wholesale trade in tea, sugar, oil and oil products, alcoholic beverages. In particular, it was one of the first three Russian private companies that began to be involved by the government in the supply of oil under interstate agreements (the most famous was the contract with Cuba - "oil-sugar", in which Alfa-Eco participated along with the trading house Menatep- Impex).
Currently Alfa-Eco's position as an oil trader has weakened, and the near future does not promise any improvement. (However, the same applies to most other oil traders who are not oil producers or are not part of the structures of vertically integrated oil companies.) At the same time, it is obvious that its positions in the non-trading sphere are strengthening. This is evidenced, in particular, by the fact that it is Alfa-Eco's top management that is now busy unraveling the situation with TNK, and in a favorable scenario, it is they who will manage its financial affairs.
The name "Alfa-Capital" is carried simultaneously by a voucher investment fund and a financial company managing its assets.
The Alfa Capital check investment fund was one of the largest. It has collected 2 million vouchers and has 1.1 million shareholders. (Only three CIFs were significantly larger - the First Voucher, Moscow Real Estate and LUKoil Fund.) In 1993-94. many experts argued that the block of shares of industrial enterprises collected by this CHIF was chosen most competently and looks the most promising. However, as far as we know, he did not pay significant dividends to his shareholders either then or later. We also do not know anything about the plans for its transformation.
Financial company "Alfa-Capital" is one of the oldest and most active operators in the Russian financial and stock markets. In the spring of 1997 there have been reports that she intends to transform into investment bank and at the same time to spin off a number of its specialized divisions into independent companies, including those for managing the assets of the CIF of the same name. As of autumn 1997, in the opinion of a number of experts, one can already speak of the Alfa Capital group of companies.

Tyumen Oil Company

Tyumen Oil Company is a vertically integrated oil holding. The main value in TNK is its subsidiary Nizhnevartovskneftegaz, which is one of the largest Russian oil producers and owns the unique Samotlor field. The refining (Ryazan refinery) and marketing subsidiaries are much less powerful, inconveniently located and do not represent significant value.
TNC is one of the weak Russian companies. Integration in it was formal, management of subsidiaries was nominal, and financial position Nizhnevartovskneftegaz worsened every year. In particular, he is constantly on the list of the largest tax evaders. Therefore, the privatization of TNCs and its transfer to the control of a powerful financial group seemed to the state the only means of restoring manageability in the company and giving economic sense her activities. (Similar to the positively assessed experience of the Menatep-Yukos and ONEXIM-SIDANCO alliances.) And for the owner of TNK, the long-term benefit from owning Samotlor outweighed any current losses and problems.
As an alternative to the privatization of TNK, the option of its merger with the Central Oil Company, which has a large Moscow refinery and does not have any production capacities, was considered. This association was to take place under the patronage of the Moscow government and the administration Tyumen region and lobbied with them.
Summer 1997 40% of the shares of the Tyumen Oil Company were put up for an investment competition. At the same time, the Government of the Russian Federation did everything in its power to help Alfa Group become the winner of this competition. True, the amount that the winner is obliged to pay for the purchased block of shares, compared with the prices of previously sold oil companies, was unprecedentedly large - over 800 million dollars.
However, even before the competition was held, the consortium had sharply conflicted relations with the management of Nizhnevartovskneftegaz and its most influential CEO V. Paliem. At present, Alfa-Eco's management and the management of TNK, appointed by him, are spending most of their efforts on establishing their control over Nizhnevartovskneftegaz, but it is not yet clear whether they will be crowned with success. (At the same time, the federal government is apparently trying to help them in this by initiating bankruptcy proceedings for an oil producing enterprise.)
Therefore, today it is not yet clear what role the consortium will play in relation to the Tyumen Oil Company. So far, the whole range of options is theoretically possible - from a full-fledged owner and strategic partner (like Menatep - Rosprom and Yukos) to a temporary intermediary in case of a forced return to the already mentioned option of merging the Tyumen and Central oil companies.

Relations with the state

The relations of the Alpha Group consortium with the state developed along a clearly defined sinusoid.
According to many experts, in the first period of its activity, Alfa-Bank was under the special patronage of Gaidar's team. Alfa-Eco also enjoyed the obvious favor of the government. This, in particular, is evidenced by her appointment in 1994. one of the two executors of the oil-sugar deal with Cuba.
In 1995-96 relations between the Alpha Group and the authorities, apparently, were quite tense. On the surface, this manifested itself in at least two moments.
At the end of 1995 the group lost the loans-for-shares auctions, and, according to its own statements, was forcibly ousted from them. As a result, together with Inkombank and Russian Credit, Alfa-Bank formed an "opposition" not only to the winners (ONEXIM, Menatep, SBS), but also to the government, announcing the illegality of the auction procedure and demanding the cancellation of their results. The controversy reached such a pitch that the banks put forward a clearly politically incorrect (though just as obviously unrealizable) threat to bring down the GKO market.
And in January 1997. V.Potanin, the author of the idea of ​​loans-for-shares auctions, who at that time was the first deputy chairman of the government, tried to make a retaliatory move. When developing the list of authorized government banks, he did not include Alfa-Bank in the group of agent banks (that is, the "most authorized" banks that, without a special decision, can carry out any instructions from government departments). The non-inclusion was explained by the non-compliance of the bank with the formal requirements established by the commission.
But in the same winter, relations between the consortium and the state again began to develop in an upward direction. Already in February, the same V. Potanin announced the inclusion of Alfa-Bank (as well as MOST-Bank and Unikombank) among the agent banks on the condition that they bring their indicators in line with the established selection criteria before July 1, 1997.
In the spring of 1997 the government has demonstrated its confidence in Alfa-bank by betting on it, along with Agroprombank, in creating a new financing system Agriculture. Alfa-Bank became the government's agent for servicing a special federal fund for lending to agriculture (it was instructed to distribute 900 billion rubles of loans). And although, according to press reports, both during the sowing and during the harvesting campaign, he had conflicts with the Ministry of Agriculture, but the claims against him were less than against Agroprombank and its owner SBS-Agro.
Summer 1997 Alfa-Bank signed a cooperation agreement with the Federal Road Service and became its financial agent to resolve the crisis of non-payments, restructuring and repayment of mutual debts between the service, road funds and the budget. The scale of the opened field of activity is evidenced by the fact that as of May 1, 1997. the total debt to the federal road fund amounted to 3.4 trillion rubles. It is also expected that Alfa-Bank will become the manager for the placement of foreign loans of the Federal Highway Service.
The following three points speak eloquently of the degree of support that the government provided to the consortium during the already mentioned acquisition of a 40% stake in the Tyumen Oil Company. First, for the first time, the Russian authorities supported a hostile takeover of a major oil company - the hostile relations between the group and the management of Nizhnevartovskneftegaz were well known. Secondly, the government ignored the position of the Prosecutor General's Office, which demanded that the competition be postponed, and pressure was put on the judicial authorities of the Tyumen region, forcing the latter to withdraw their objections to holding it within the prescribed time frame. Thirdly, the Moscow Mayor's proposal to merge TNK and Central Oil Company prior to their privatization was rejected.
And finally, the participation of M. Fridman in the September meeting of the president with six "prominent bankers" (to which the heads of banks larger than Alfa-Bank, St. the fact that he accompanied A. Chubais on a visit to London, which was very significant for the last October, clearly indicates that the authorities have firmly included Alfa Group in the number of financial and industrial conglomerates of the highest state significance.
As for the defeat of Alfa-Bank and its partners in the investment competition for the sale of a blocking stake in Svyazinvest, in our opinion, it says absolutely nothing about the real relationship between Alfa Group and the state. It's just that Alfa-Bank and MOST-Bank, for all their size, do not yet have sufficient "capacity" to act as strategic financial partners for industrial enterprises of national scale and significance. (It is no coincidence that back in the spring of 1997 it was believed that these banks would participate in this auction not as opponents, but as partners of ONEXIM.)
There is also a longstanding personal union between the Alpha Group and the authorities. In 1993 the former minister of foreign economic relations in the Gaidar government, P. Aven, became the president of the bank. (When he moved to Alfa-Bank, he, according to him, “received 10% of its shares, transferring to him 50% of the shares of his private company FinPA in return.) And it was with his arrival that the period of the most rapid growth of the bank began.
In 1995 another major Soviet-Russian official L. Vid was appointed to the post of chairman of the board of the bank - former deputy chairman Gosplan of the USSR and former (for a relatively short time) head of the executive committee of the Our Home is Russia movement. And finally, in the fall of 1997. A. Sitnin, former head of the press center of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, moved to the position of vice-president of the consortium.
Alfa Group, perhaps, was the first in Russia to master the practice of inviting not only major government officials, but also "iconic figures" to executive positions in business. Yes, back in 1992. to the position of president of the investment company "Alfa Capital" (management company of the eponymous check investment fund) was invited by A. Leonov, one of the most famous Soviet cosmonauts and leaders of the manned space flight program. (The second striking example of this kind appeared much later - Academician E. Velikhov was placed at the head of the Rosshelf.)

July 01, 2019 The Government of Bashkortostan and Alfa-Bank JSC signed a cooperation agreement. The document was signed by Acting Head of the Republic Radiy Khabirov and President of Alfa-Bank JSC Oleg Sysuev.

Founded in 1989, the Alfa Group* (“Alfa”) Consortium is one of the largest private financial and investment consortiums in Russia.

Alfa Group* -This a set of businesses that are independent of each other and operate primarily in the markets of Russia and the CIS.

Alpha* companies' businesses include commercial and investment banking, asset management, insurance, retail, water supply and sanitation, production and sale of mineral water, as well as special investment situations. Alpha* companies primarily invest in assets with long-term prospects for value appreciation, primarily in Russia and the CIS countries, as well as in other markets that meet their strategic goals.

The main businesses of the Consortium:

ABH Holdings S.A. Private holding company headquartered in Luxembourg with investments in a number of banking groups in the CIS and Europe.	Management Company "Alfa-Capital" Alfa Capital Management Company manages investment portfolios for a wide range of clients.	AlfaStrakhovanie Group The largest private Russian insurance group with a universal portfolio of insurance services.
Alfa Asset Management (Europe) S.A. Asset management company for private and corporate clients in Europe.	"A1" Leading investment company in Russia - an expert in resolving complex economic situations and corporate disputes.	Х5 Retail Group Leading multi-format food retail company in Russia. The Group's shares in the form of global depositary receipts are traded on the London Stock Exchange and on the Moscow Exchange under the ticker "FIVE".
Rosvodokanal group of companies One of the leading regional companies in the field of water supply and sanitation in Russia.	IDS Borjomi INTERNATIONAL The largest producer of mineral water in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and the CIS and Baltic countries.

All businesses firmly follow the principles of corporate development and financial control. Through the Boards of Directors and executive bodies, each business is independently managed.

Alfa-Group* companies are known for their long tradition of charity and social support communities in the regions where Alpha operates*. In an effort to achieve leadership in all areas of activity, Alpha* will always accompany the commercial development of each of its businesses with social and charitable activities. Alpha* is also proud of its cooperation with the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) non-profit partnership. The activities of the RIAC are aimed at strengthening peace, friendship and harmony among peoples, preventing international conflicts and crisis management.

* Alfa Group is not a legal entity.

ALL PHOTOS

Alfa Group disclosed its owners for the first time. Together with Mikhail Fridman, who has already recognized over 40% of the holding, Alfa Group is controlled by TNK-BP Executive Director German Khan and Alfa-Eco Board of Directors Chairman Alexei Kuzmichev.

For a long time, Alfa Group preferred to keep the names of its owners secret, while its partners and competitors had to be content with rumors. At the end of 2004, the chairman of the supervisory board of directors of Alfa Group, Mikhail Fridman, admitted that he was the holding's largest shareholder. In early October 2005, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Friedman said that his share in the group exceeded 40%. But the owners did not name themselves in official documents.

However, in the end, considerations of economy outweighed: the frankness of the owners of the group has its price. The more transparent the borrower, the better investors treat him. "This reduces the cost of loans and raises the rating," Oleg Sysuev, first deputy chairman of the board of directors of Alfa-Bank, explained to Vedomosti.

The structure of Alfa's business is described in detail in the presentation of 10-year subordinated Eurobonds of Alfa-Bank, which is legally registered as ABH Financial Limited. It, in turn, is controlled by ABH Holding, registered in the British Virgin Islands. The notes to ABH Financial's financial statements for the first half of 2005, which are attached to the memorandum, state that Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev jointly own and control a 77.07% stake in ABH Holding. At the same time, none of them owns or controls 50% of the shares or more, Vedomosti notes.

Friedman estimated his capital in an interview with the WSJ: in his opinion, all the assets of Alfa Group are worth $20 billion. The bank, according to experts, accounts for a tenth.

It can also be concluded from the documents that ABH Holding is wholly owned by individuals - the ultimate owners of another group included in the consortium, Alfa Finance Holdings. It combines oil assets (including a stake in TNK-BP) and Alfa's asset management business. In addition, the memorandum states that "the controlling shareholders of the Alfa Banking Group are also the controlling shareholders of the companies that are part of the Alfa Group consortium."

In an interview with WSJ, Friedman admitted that his share in the group exceeds 40%. A source close to Alfa specifies that Khan and Kuzmichev share the remainder approximately equally, and apart from them, the parent company of the group does not have three owners.

The owners of Alpha have known each other since their student days: the three future tycoons studied together at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys. The joint business of partner friends began with washing windows, then they went into trade. They traded everything - computers, sugar, carpets. With the money earned, Alfa-Bank was created. But Alfa made its most successful acquisition in 1997, buying on shares with Renova and Access Industries at a privatization tender 40% of the Tyumen Oil Company.

"Alfa Group"

The parent structure of the Alfa Group consortium is the Gibraltar-based CTF Holdings Ltd. Through a chain of offshore companies, it controls 100% of the shares of the Alfa-Bank group, owns 25% of the shares of TNK-BP, 29.9% of Golden Telecom, 43.5% of Kyivstar GSM, 24.5% of the shares of VimpelCom and 25.1% "MegaFon", 80.41% of the shares of Trade House "Perekryostok". According to the results of 2003, the consolidated revenue of "Alfa Group" - 488.8 million dollars, net profit - 1.99 billion dollars. Profit is higher than revenue, since not all Alfa has more than 50% of projects and not all income can be consolidated.