Biography of Gennady Timchenko
Gennady Nikolaevich Timchenko is a billionaire entrepreneur, owner of the investment company Volga Group, co-owner of a large international energy trader Gunvor, petrochemical SIBUR Holding, railway operator Transoil, construction group STG and others, holder of the French National Order of the Legion of Honor.
Gennady Nikolaevich Timchenko
The businessman, who is considered a friend of the current head of state, heads the St. Petersburg club SKA - winner of the Kontinental Hockey League championship of the 2015/2016 season, heads the KHL supervisory board, as well as the economic council of the CCI France Russie Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a division of the interstate Russian-Chinese business council.
Reorientation from Europe to China, according to analysts, will allow it to maintain its influence in the informal management system of the Russian Federation, including on decisions on the placement of personnel in the structures of the executive branch of government and the gubernatorial corps, under the conditions of Western sanctions.
Timchenko Gennady Nikolaevich
Russian-Finnish entrepreneur, public figure. Owner of the private investment group Volga Group, specializing in investments in energy, transport and infrastructure assets. Chairman of the Economic Council of the Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kontinental Hockey League and President of the SKA hockey club (St. Petersburg). Member of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society. Knight of the Legion of Honor.
Main achievements
He is the creator of one of the world's largest oil traders - the Gunvor . Considered one of Vladimir Putin's , a number of media outlets called him the president's confidant. He is one of the richest people in Russia and the world.
Family
Married, three children. The entrepreneur's wife Elena Timchenko , a native of the Stavropol Territory, was listed as the president of the Swiss foundation for socio-cultural orientation Fondation Neva, registered in 2008. Together with her husband, she was a co-director of the Luxembourg companies Carring Finance SA, Maples SA and Sogeco Holding SA, and also owned with him on a parity basis the company Sogeco Perticipation Sarl
The Wall Street Journal reported on G. Timchenko's two daughters who studied in the UK. In August 2008 Novaya Gazeta claimed that the entrepreneur’s daughter was engaged to Gleb Frank, deputy general director of Gazprombank-Invest , the son of former transport minister and general director of the state shipping company Sergei Frank.
Biography
Born November 9, 1952 in Leninakan (now Gyumri) of the Armenian SSR in the family of a serviceman of the Armed Forces of the USSR. He spent part of his childhood (from 1959 to 1965) in the GDR and Ukraine.
In 1976 Graduated from the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute with a degree in electrical engineering. He began his career as a shift foreman at the Izhora plant in the city of Kolpino near Leningrad - he was engaged in the production of electric generators for nuclear power plants.
In 1982-1988. worked as a senior engineer at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Trade.
In 1988 Gennady Timchenko became deputy director of the state foreign trade association Kirishineftekhimexport, which was created in 1987. on the basis of the Kirishi Oil Refinery (one of the three largest oil refineries in the RSFSR).
It is known that the Kirishineftekhimexport team established connections with Andrei Pannikov, an officer of the USSR KGB, who in 1984-1988 worked under the cover of the Soviet trade mission in Stockholm. A. Pannikov, who was actively interested in the oil and gas business, was expelled from Sweden for industrial espionage.
In 1990 A. Pannikov, who was called the first oil trader in the USSR, created a joint venture for oil trading, Urals, which included foreign and Russian companies, including Kirishineftekhimexport . The latter began to process all its foreign deliveries through Urals.
In 1991 Kirishineftekhimexport began to cooperate with the Committee for Foreign Economic Relations of the Leningrad City Hall, which at that time was headed by Vladimir Putin. This time included the provision of an export quota for 150 thousand tons of petroleum products to the enterprise led by G. Timchenko, in exchange for which Leningrad was supposed to receive (but did not receive in full) food products.
Also in 1991. Timchenko went to work at Urals Finland Oy (“Urals-Finland”), the Finnish division of Urals founded a year earlier, which became the main buyer of Kirishinefteorgsintez petroleum products. Subsequently, Kirishineftekhimexport became the main seller of joint-stock oil products (founded in 1993), whose structure included the Kirishi Oil Refinery.
In 1992 "Kirishineftekhimexport", the mayor's office of St. Petersburg and "Urals" established, which was supposed to build a terminal in the port of St. Petersburg. Although the terminal was not built, according to some reports, thanks to this project, Timchenko personally met Vladimir Putin .
In 1995 Urals Finland Oy was renamed International Petroleum Products Oy (IPP) , and Gennady Timchenko became first deputy and then general director of IPP Oy.
In 1996 At the privatization auction, together with his partners, he bought out Kinex, from which Gunvor - one of the world's largest oil traders. A favorable macroeconomic environment and the offer of favorable pricing conditions allowed the company to capture a significant share of the international and Russian market, winning long-term oil tenders from other oil traders - the Swiss Glencore and the British BP. Both state-owned ( Rosneft , Gazprom Neft ) and private companies ( TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz ) sold oil through Gunvor. Currently, the Gunvor group's clients are the largest international oil and gas companies.
In 2007 Gennady Timchenko founded the private investment fund Volga Resources . Currently, Volga Resources Group unites the Russian and international assets of the entrepreneur in the fields of energy, transport, infrastructure construction, finance and the consumer sector.
In 2013 At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a new investment group, Volga Group, was presented, which consolidated the assets of Gennady Timchenko and the management company Volga Advisors, which will monitor and assist companies included in the Volga Group .
Income
According to Forbes, he is among the richest people in Russia and the world. As of early 2013 his fortune was estimated at $14.1 billion. In the Forbes magazine ranking for 2012. Timchenko was in 99th place among world and 12th place among Russian billionaires with a fortune estimated at $9.1 billion. RBC magazine in the same year estimated the businessman’s fortune at $24.61 billion, placing him in first place on its own list billionaires of Russia.
As of early February 2013 Gennady Timchenko owned through Volga Resources:
- 23% shares in gas production
- 13% stake in seismic exploration company IG Seismic Services (IGSS)
- 30% shares of coal mining
- 50% shares in gas production
- 80% shares of the railway
- 74% shares of the aviation service company
- 70% shares of the aviation service company
- 80% shares in construction
- 37.3% shares of gas processing and petrochemical
- 25% shares in a timber processing company (Sweden)
- 12.5% shares of insurance
- 44% shares of the insurance company SOVAG AG (Germany)
- 8% shares of Rossiya Bank
- 30% shares (processing and supply of fish products)
- 100% shares of drinking water producer “Russian Time” (Aquanika brand)
Gennady Timchenko, according to media reports, also owns a property in Cologny (Canton of Geneva, Switzerland), which consists of a land plot of slightly more than 1 hectare, a house with an area of 341 m² and an underground structure of 372 sq. m. m.
In addition to the estate in Switzerland, G. Timchenko has a summer house in Taipalsaari, in southeastern Finland.
Gossip
The name Timchenko became publicly known on February 2, 2004, when Ivan Rybkin, a candidate for the presidency of Russia who was not registered at that time, published as an advertisement in the Kommersant newspaper owned by Boris Berezovsky a statement entitled “Putin has no right to power in Russia.” I. Rybkin claimed that G. Timchenko, along with Roman Abramovich and brothers Yuri and Mikhail Kovalchuk , was “responsible for the business” of the current President Vladimir Putin , and called the latter the largest oligarch in Russia. In subsequent comments and interviews, I. Rybkin said that G. Timchenko controls the oil refinery in the city of Kirishi and, as well as the financial flows of Sovcomflot and the Novorossiysk Shipping Company.
In 2000 Eduard Limonov published a text in Limonka entitled “Putin: business, oil and elections.” The article stated that G. Timchenko was a confidant of V. Putin: he ensured the placement of his personal funds in accounts in foreign banks, carried out certain special assignments (for example, he maintained contact with the former mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak ).
At the same time, Timchenko G.N. is also a close connection and confidant of the former acting and now President of Russia - V.V. Putin, and their relationship acquired the indicated character even during the period of the latter’s work in the mayor’s office of St. Petersburg. It was V.V. Putin, who has G.N. Timchenko. common commercial interests, at one time contributed greatly to IPP taking the current position of the main export agents of KINEF.
In turn, Timchenko G.N. repeatedly supplied Putin with V.V. large sums of foreign currency, ensured the placement of his personal funds, as well as the funds of other senior officials, first of the St. Petersburg and then of the Kremlin administration, in accounts in foreign banks. He also carried out certain special assignments of V.V. Putin, such as, for example, maintaining contact with A.A. Sobchak “who was in exile.”
Childhood and family of Gennady Timchenko
The future creator of the oil empire, through whose structures about one third of Russian exports of petroleum products passes, was born on November 9, 1952 in Leninakan (since 1991 - Gyumri). His grandfather and grandmother were from the Kharkov region, which explains the Ukrainian surname. His father was a military man, so it is quite understandable that the boy spent his childhood in different countries and cities, at his place of service.
Gennady Timchenko in his youth
So he lived in Armenia until he was 7 years old. After that, their family spent six years in a Soviet military garrison in eastern Germany. Then the father was sent to the city of Bolgrad, located in Ukraine, near the Moldovan border, where his son continued his studies and graduated from school.
Having received secondary education, Gennady decided to become a submariner and tried to enroll in the appropriate school in Leningrad, but did not pass the medical expert commission. However, the young man did not give up on his intention to become a university student and successfully passed the entrance exams to the famous Military Mech.
Early life and family
Gennady Timchenko was born in 1952 in Armenian Leninakan (now Gyumri). His family was quite typical for that time. His father served in the Soviet Army, and several years of his service were spent in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSVG). Therefore, Gena Timchenko spent 6 years of his childhood (in the period 1959-1965) in the GDR, where he learned German, and also in Ukraine, in the city of Bolgrad in the Odessa region, where his father was subsequently transferred.
Where did Gennady Timchenko go after graduating from school? His biography continued in Leningrad, where he studied at the elite Soviet university - the Leningrad Military Mech, 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, which 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 reported to ITAR-TASS last year, his son continues to remain a citizen of Finland and studies at the University of Geneva.
Career of Gennady Timchenko
After college, the young mechanical engineer was assigned to the Izhora plant in Kolpino in the south of Leningrad, where since 1976 he worked as a foreman in an electromechanical workshop producing generators for nuclear power plants.
Very soon, he received an invitation to work in a division of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Trade as a senior engineer, whose duties included frequent trips abroad, which allowed some bibliographers to assume his connection with domestic intelligence services. Gennady himself denied belonging to the KGB. He visited Switzerland and Suomi several times and made business contacts there, which were useful to him later.
Gennady Timchenko is a friend of Vladimir Putin
Progressing successfully up the career ladder, in 1988 he became deputy director of foreign trade, created a year earlier on the basis of the country's largest oil refinery in the city of Kirishi, Leningrad region, and which received the right to supply oil abroad. There he met his future business partners Andrei Katkov and Evgeniy Malov.
Registration of foreign trade transactions required a large number of approvals from regulatory services. To optimize the oil marketing process, three friends teamed up with former KGB officer Andrei Pannikov. Thanks to his connections, he had the opportunity to help establish the Russian-Finnish joint venture Urals, where all the company's export flows were subsequently transferred.
Biography
Timchenko Gennady Nikolaevich
, born November 9, 1952, native of Leninakan, Armenian SSR. Has a second citizenship of the Republic of Finland.
Relatives.
Wife: Elena Petrovna Timchenko, born December 21, 1955. Currently resides permanently in Switzerland. President of the Fondation Neva social and cultural foundation. He is a co-founder of a number of companies that are structurally part of the Volga Group.
Daughter: Frank (maiden name Timchenko) Ksenia Gennadievna, born November 13, 1983. She was educated in the UK. Currently resides permanently in Switzerland. Married to Gleb Frank, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Stroytransgaz CJSC and the son of the former Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, General Director of the shipping company Sergei Frank.
State.
In 2014, Gennady Timchenko took 3rd place in Forbes magazine’s “Kings of Government Contracts” rating. According to the rating, the volume of government orders in companies controlled by Timchenko amounts to 41 billion rubles. The largest customers of the entrepreneur’s companies were Transneft, FSUE Spetsstroytekhnologii.
Hobbies.
Gennady Timchenko loves to play and is fond of tennis. There are also references in the press to sponsoring a team of yachtsmen. On April 29, 2011, Gennady Timchenko replaced Alexander Medvedev as chairman of the board of directors of the SKA club. In May of the same year, according to the new club management structure approved by the board of directors, he became president of SKA. On July 10, 2012, he was elected to the post of Chairman of the KHL Board of Directors. In 2013, he became one of the sponsors and organizers of one of the most significant tournaments in the ELO ranking - the Alekhine Memorial international chess tournament. Vice-President of the Russian Olympic Committee. He is interested in collecting art in the style of socialist realism.
Education
In 1976 he graduated from the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute with a degree in electrical engineering.
Labor activity
- After graduating from university, he worked as a shift foreman at the Izhora plant (Kolpino), then worked in the system of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Trade, and repeatedly went on business trips abroad.
- In 1988, he became deputy director of the state foreign trade association Kirishineftekhimexport, created on the basis of the Kirishi oil refinery.
- In 1991, he joined the joint Soviet-Finnish company Urals Finland Oy and moved to Finland.
- In 1995, Urals Finland Oy was renamed International Petroleum Products Oy (IPP), and Timchenko became first deputy general director and then general director of IPP.
- In 1997, together with T. Tornqvist, he founded the company Gunvor, which is currently a leading independent energy trader that has managed to take control of a significant part of the international and Russian market.
- In 2007 he founded the private investment fund Volga Resources. Currently, the Volga Resources Group, created on the basis of this fund, unites the Russian and international assets of the entrepreneur in the field of energy, transport, infrastructure construction, finance and the consumer sector.
- Currently, Timchenko is the owner of the private investment group Volga Group, as well as the chairman of the Economic Council of the Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. His personal fortune is estimated at about $15 billion; he is in sixth place in the ranking of the richest people in Russia.
Business of Gennady Timchenko
Gennady went to work in the foreign division of the established enterprise and moved to Suomi. In 1995, the joint venture changed its name to International Petroleum Products Оy (translated as “International Petroleum Products”, Оу is the Finnish sign of the company name). Soon it was headed by Gennady.
Gennady Timchenko - co-owner and member of the board of directors of OJSC NOVATEK
In 1997, a successful entrepreneur, in partnership with Swedish businessman Torbjorn Tornqvist, founded the company Gunvor, through which Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegaz, Rosneft and others sold oil abroad. As a result, Timchenko became one of the richest people in the country. In 1999, due to the ban on dual citizenship in Suomi, he renounced his status as a citizen of the Russian Federation (this ban was later lifted), and in 2001 he changed his place of permanent residence to Switzerland.
In 2007, the businessman created the venture company Volga Resources, which united a number of his assets (shares in Novatek, Yamal LNG, STG and other companies).
Business
After the collapse of the Union in 1991, Timchenko moved to Finland and headed the company Urals Finland Oy, which specialized in importing Russian oil to Europe. This enterprise became a buyer of Russian products; at that time, the future billionaire was still listed as its leader.
Businessman Gennady Timchenko
In 1996, during the period of global privatization in Russia, Gennady Nikolaevich bought Kinex from the state and on its basis, with his Swedish partner Torbjorn Tornqvist, founded the oil trading company Gunvor. Through this company, Russian oil was exported abroad by the country's leading companies, which included Rosneft, Gazprom, Surgutneftegaz and TNK-BP.
In 2007, Gunvor's revenues reached $70 billion, and Timchenko decided to create his own investment holding without co-founders. Then the Volga Group company was born, specializing in investments in the development of Russian business in promising industries - transport, energy and infrastructure. The group's assets include shares of Russian enterprises: Novatek, Stroytransgaz, Transoil, Sukhodol, Petromir, SIBUR.
In addition to the energy and transport sectors, the billionaire invests in the development of the banking and insurance sectors, sports and culture, and also owns 100% of the shares of the drinking water manufacturer Aquanika. In 2014, the group’s portfolio of assets was replenished with shares of Alma-Holding LLC, specializing in the wholesale trade of food and non-alcoholic drinks.
Gennady Timchenko
In 2014, the businessman sold his own assets in the Gunvor company to his co-founder, which was done the day before the US imposed sanctions against Timchenko. The billionaire considers the sanctions imposed against him to be a high assessment, meaning a significant contribution to the development of the Russian economy. Gennady transferred assets to Russian banks painlessly, since he took care of this in advance.
Personal life of Gennady Timchenko
The financial tycoon is married. His wife's name is Elena. They met in college through mutual friends. Both studied at Voenmekh, only Elena became a radio engineer. Three years after they met, they got married.
Gennady Timchenko and his wife Elena
The couple raised three children: the youngest son Sergei and two daughters, Natalya and Ksenia. The eldest daughter graduated from Oxford, Ksyusha graduated from the University of Edinburgh, the son studied in Switzerland at school, and returned to receive higher education in Russia.
Gennady Timchenko with his daughter Ksenia
Gennady has been involved in philanthropy for a long time and often. In 1998, in collaboration with the Rotenbergs, he participated in the organization (on Putin’s advice) of the Yawara-Neva judo club, in which the head of state became honorary president. Together with his wife Elena, they initiated the establishment of the Neva, Klyuch, and Ladoga foundations, through which hundreds of socio-cultural and sports projects were implemented. The Gennady and Elena Timchenko Foundation supported the Russian province. Elena was also a co-owner and director of transport and trade, Maples, Carring Finance, and Relais & Chateaux hotels in France. In 2012, she and their youngest daughter Ksenia (the wife of the son of Sovcomflot head Sergei Frank) were awarded the Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation.
The oligarch became the organizer of the creation of a permanent exhibition of Russian art in the Louvre in Paris, for which he was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor in 2013. He is a co-trustee of the National Geographic Society and the Chess Federation.
For the head of the family, sport is a special passion. He is passionate about sailing, is the captain of his own Katusha team, and has participated in international regatta races among RC44 class yachts.
Gennady Timchenko about SKA in the 2015/2016 season Gennady Nikolaevich loves tennis, skiing, hockey, heads the Board of Directors of the SKA hockey club, plays on the ice field with famous hockey players, the president and high-ranking officials, billionaire entrepreneurs (Pavel Bure, Vladimir Putin, Sergei Shoigu, Vladimir Potanin, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg) in non-professional hockey, and also loves his dog Romy, who is the daughter of Koni, the president’s Labrador. Interview with SKA President Gennady Timchenko
Personal life
The personal life of Gennady Timchenko is carefully hidden from the public eye. The billionaire’s wife, Elena Timchenko, has been the oligarch’s permanent partner in both life and business for several decades.
Gennady Timchenko with his wife
The spouses also carry out common charitable activities - together they founded the largest in Russia “Timchenko Foundation”, whose activities are aimed at supporting families and children, the older generation, the development of culture and sports. On the official website of the charity organization, reports on the work done, children's sports news, notes on cultural events and the creation of new support centers for parents of adopted children regularly appear.
In addition to the charitable foundation, Gennady Nikolaevich is considered a Russian philanthropist, since he allocates sums of money from his own funds for the construction and restoration of churches in the country.
The businessman has three children - two daughters - Natalya and Ksenia and a son Sergei, who were born in Finland. Natalia received her higher education in Oxford, Ksenia in Edinburgh. Sergei graduated from school in Switzerland, but preferred a Russian university. Now the children live and work in Russia, the daughters and son have followed in their father’s footsteps and are engaged in business and charity.
Gennady Timchenko - president of the SKA hockey club
As for the billionaire’s leisure time, in addition to business, Gennady has been interested in sports since his youth. Timchenko loves hockey, golf, alpine skiing, and tennis, and therefore provides serious sponsorship support to Russian tennis players. A photo of an entrepreneur in a hockey uniform regularly appears in the press. Timchenko participates in Night Hockey League games along with other political and economic leaders of the country. In addition, he heads the SKA hockey club, is the vice-president of the Russian Olympic Committee, and was also one of the founders of the St. Petersburg judo club “Yawara-Neva”, the honorary president of which is Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin and Gennady Timchenko
Gennady Nikolaevich has another interesting hobby - the entrepreneur is raising a Labrador named Romy, the daughter of the Russian leader’s dog.
Gennady Timchenko today
In 2011, the entrepreneur expanded the scope of his business interests and began trading coal.
Through Gunvor, he acquired a controlling stake in the Yakut coal mining enterprise Kolmar, a stake in Leeuw Mining and Exploration (South Africa), and Signal Peak (USA). He then bought French hotels, a Scandinavian airline, a German insurance company, and a domestic company that was renamed Russian Aquaculture. In 2014, the billionaire came under sanctions from the United States and EU countries, imposed due to the Russian Federation’s violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine, and allegedly due to the fact that Vladimir Putin is an investor in Gunvor with access to his funds.
Gennady began to save his numerous assets - he transferred his share in the Russian Sea to his son-in-law Gleb Frank, sold Gunvor to a partner, got rid of shares in the oil company IIP and others. In addition, the United States allegedly launched an investigation into alleged money laundering at Gunvor during the period of operations for the export of “black gold” produced by Rosneft. In May of the same year, the oligarch announced a complete transfer of his capital to Russia. What Putin’s richest friend Gennady Timchenko is building on Rublyovka After finishing his children’s education abroad, the billionaire settled in Russia. This time coincided with his inclusion in the sanctions lists. He lives in the former residence of Nikita Khrushchev, the former first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, with a marble fireplace and interior trim made of precious wood, located in Moscow in the Vorobyovy Gory nature reserve. The tycoon's personal fortune in 2020 was estimated by Forbes at $10.7 billion.
