Biography
Leonid Mikhelson is the leader among the richest businessmen in Russia, who in 2016 and 2017 took first place among the richest people in the country. The businessman’s fortune is estimated at $18.4 billion, which allows Mikhelson to occupy 60th position in the TOP of the richest people in the world. The billionaire achieved such financial success through remarkable hard work and determination, since he began his career as a foreman at an oil pipeline construction company, rising to the head of the second largest gas company.
Entrepreneur Leonid Mikhelson
Mikhelson Leonid Viktorovich was born on August 11, 1955 in Kaspiysk, located in Dagestan. Leonid’s father, Viktor Zelmanovich, worked as an oil pipeline builder, and after the birth of his son he became the director of Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy; the future oligarch’s mother, Praskovya Fedorovna, also worked in the construction industry. After the birth of their son, the Mikhelson family immediately moved to Novokuibyshevsk, where the future oligarch spent his childhood and youth.
During his school years, Leonid Mikhelson paid a lot of attention to education and was distinguished by high academic performance among his peers. From childhood, his father introduced his son to the oil and gas business, so he regularly took him with him to the oil fields.
In 1972, the oil and gas magnate graduated from school and entered the Kuibyshev Construction Institute, from which he graduated with a diploma in civil engineering. As a young specialist, Leonid Viktorovich went to explore Siberia, where he worked as a foreman on the construction of the largest Urengoy-Chelyabinsk gas pipeline.
Leonid Mikhelson
After five years of work, Mikhelson’s career path began to reach its first heights. First, the future oligarch received a promotion to the position of line manager at Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy, and soon became the chief engineer of a similar enterprise in Ryazan.
Career
Having received a higher education, the young specialist was assigned to Ukraine, his father’s homeland. He lived in a civil marriage with his childhood friend Lyudmila. Subsequently, the couple formalized the relationship. There was a need to support the family. The engineer decided to change his job to a more profitable one and moved to Western Siberia. Here at that time the construction of the Urengoy-Chelyabinsk gas pipeline began.
Working conditions in the north are difficult. Every day all sorts of extreme situations arose, from which it was necessary to resolve decisively. This is not surprising, given that the vast majority of the contingent were former prisoners. Gradually, Leonid Mikhelson got used to this pace, at the limit of human capabilities.
In 1984, the future billionaire received the position of chief engineer at the Ryazanttruboprovodstroy enterprise. Three years later, Mikhelson Sr. died, and his son was offered to head the Kuibyshev trust. This became the starting point in the independent biography of the industrialist. Not all employees liked the dubious appointment. Many saw it as a kind of succession to the throne. But the new manager quickly proved his professionalism and reliability, which earned him the respect of his colleagues.
In an interview with the Forbes tabloid, Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson himself told some facts of his biography. He recalled that the plant was the first to be privatized in the region. On the advice of a friend who moved in circles close to the government, the aspiring businessman sold his VAZ car and acquired a 15% stake. The remaining securities were distributed among SMU employees. The company that was born was named Nova.
At first things didn't go well. All major projects in the field of oil and gas production were frozen. As Forbes learned, Leonid Mikhelson at that time tried to establish any type of activity, as long as it helped him earn rubles. The plant’s personnel traveled to the marble quarries of Uzbekistan: small farms for breeding nutria, etc. were organized on the territory of the enterprise.
Everything changed in 1993, when the owner of a poor construction and installation department with 4 thousand employees met the head of the geological exploration bureau in the Yamalo-Nenets Okrug, Joseph Levinzon. Since then, the company's employees began to engage in real projects directly related to the field of oil and gas fields. The business took off, and soon Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson was able to buy out his partner’s share, unite disparate enterprises, and create the giant Novatek holding.
In the further career of a millionaire, the main milestones can be identified:
- post of Chairman of the Board of Novafininvest in 1994;
- entry into the board of directors of Stroytransgaz (March 2008);
- Membership in the management of Art Finance OJSC since 2009.
And in 2001, he headed the management of SIBUR Holding.
People who worked with the head of Novatek, Leonid Mikhelson, give an ambiguous assessment of his personality. But everyone agrees that this is a strong, strong-willed nature with powerful charisma. In addition, the oligarch is called a great professional, capable of radical actions in order to achieve his goals.
Business
The turning point in Leonid Mikhelson’s career came in 1987, when the businessman’s father died. Then Leonid Mikhelson headed Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy and from this the businessman’s own independent biography began. The father took care of this appointment in advance, which caused considerable discontent among the working class of the trust. But the new head of the enterprise proved his own professionalism in his position, so he soon became the most influential and respected specialist in the oil and gas sector, whom colleagues from all over Russia reckoned with.
Head of Novatek Leonid Mikhelson
In 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy became the first Russian privatized enterprise, which was renamed SNP Nova. During the same period, under the leadership of Mikhelson, the national enterprise received large-scale development in the Tyumen region, where it took control of the largest gas field in the East-Tarkosalinsky area.
In 1994, OJSC Novafininvest, headed by Mikhelson, became controlled. This company was no longer engaged in the construction of oil pipelines, but in the production of hydrocarbons. A couple of years later, this enterprise was transformed into a new large one, which today has become the largest gas company.
In the late 90s, Leonid Mikhelson replenished his assets with the only Russian plant for the production of insulating materials for pipelines, Truboizolyatsiya. In 2005, it acquired the Purovsky condensate processing plant, which allowed Novatek to independently export gas through its own terminal in the White Sea. This made Novatek the only non-state company in the Russian oil and gas market.
Leonid Mikhelson, Novatek
In addition to oil and gas, Leonid Mikhelson is interested in the banking sector. In 2000, the businessman established control over the Togliatti bank Svyazbusinessbank, which in 2008 renamed the First United Bank. Leonid Mikhelson also became the owner of the Foundation for the regional non-profit project “DAR”. In 2011, the oil and gas magnate became chairman of the board of directors of Russia's largest petrochemical holding, Sibur.
Like most Russian billionaires, Leonid Mikhelson is involved in charity work. Leonid Viktorovich became the founder of the Victoria Foundation for Contemporary Art - The Art of Being Modern. This fund received its own name in honor of the oligarch’s daughter Victoria. The main idea of the foundation is the integration of Russian art into the world artistic context.
In addition, the foundation is engaged in educational and outreach activities and holds events aimed at introducing those interested to contemporary art. The official website of the foundation lists more than a dozen institutions with which the foundation cooperates in this matter.
Leonid Mikhelson
In 2015, Artguide placed Leonid Mikhelson in sixth place on the list of personalities with the strongest influence on Russian art.
Business of billionaire Mikhelson
The most difficult moment in Leonid’s life and career was the period of his father’s death in 1987. Then he took over his former business and began to build his difficult path as a businessman. Not many people approved of his appointment, but this was his father’s last wish. The entrepreneur proved to the entire enterprise that he was a professional in his field and after some time became the most influential and respected employee in the oil and gas industry, who was respected and always considered by the boards of the entire country.
Businessman Leonid Mikhelson
Personal life
The personal life of Leonid Mikhelson has few officially confirmed facts, since the billionaire does not like to show off his own life. It is known that at the beginning of his own career path, the businessman married his childhood friend Lyudmila, and has been living with his wife for more than 25 years.
In 1992, the Michelson couple had their only daughter, Victoria, who is called the richest heiress in Russia. The girl leads a social lifestyle, participates in all sorts of fashion events and receptions of the capital's elite. Leonid Viktorovich’s daughter also participates in the development of her father’s Foundation for Contemporary Art: the girl heads the Samara branch of the gallery, and also founded her own charitable foundation for children.
Businessman Leonid Mikhelson
Leonid Mikhelson likes to devote his free time from business to family and sports. The businessman is fond of volleyball. Leonid Mikhelson expressed this passion by becoming a sponsor of the NOVA volleyball club in his own small homeland - Novokuybyshevsk. The businessman is also actively involved in developing infrastructure in his hometown: thanks to the billionaire, school No. 8, from which he once graduated, entered the TOP 100 of the best educational institutions in Russia.
In addition, Leonid Mikhelson is on the board of trustees of the National Research University Higher School of Economics and provides significant annual financial support to the Higher School of Economics itself, as well as to the Lyceum of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. The businessman is a member of the boards of trustees and foreign cultural organizations. Leonid Mikhelson is a trustee of the Tate Gallery in London and the New Museum in New York.
The country's third richest man, “foreman” and new owner of TAIF: what do you need to know about Leonid Mikhelson?
65-year-old Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson is a famous Russian billionaire and entrepreneur. He is the chairman of the board of the Russian gas company, chairman of the board of directors and the largest shareholder of the leading Russian petrochemical holding SIBUR. BUSINESS Online has collected a number of biographical details about the future owner of TAIF assets.
65-year-old Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson is a famous Russian billionaire and entrepreneur. He is the chairman of the board of the Russian gas company, chairman of the board of directors and the largest shareholder of the leading Russian petrochemical holding SIBUR Photo: BUSINESS Online
Originally from Dagestan, youth - in the Samara region
Mikhelson was born into a very difficult family. His father, Viktor Zelmanovich Mikhelson , headed the Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy trust, which built the famous Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas pipeline; his mother Praskovya . Our hero graduated from the Kuibyshev Civil Engineering Institute with a degree in civil engineering and followed in his father’s footsteps.
“I didn’t want to be a builder—I dreamed of becoming a pilot. They didn’t take it, it didn’t pass by sight. Then he wanted to become a professional athlete and was fond of volleyball. I almost went to Tashkent to play. But my parents asked me to get an education first - I entered the construction institute,” Forbes quotes Mikhelson. Since then, he likes to call himself a hereditary builder - in this case, his business empire.
The "embryo" of Novatek - in the footsteps of its father
After the death of his father in 1987, Mikhelson headed Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy, which became his starting capital. In 1991, the enterprise was the first in the region to be corporatized into JSC Samara People's Enterprise Nova; Mikhelson privatized it together with the working team. Until 1994, Mikhelson was the manager of the enterprise, and then became the general director of the management company created in 1994, from which Novatek subsequently grew.
Novafininvest immediately concentrated on the development of oil and gas assets, purchasing licenses for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug fields: East-Tarkosalinskoye, Khancheyskoye, Yurkharovskoye. In 2004–2005, Novatek consolidated the bulk of its assets and sold non-core assets, and in addition, entered into an IPO on the London and Russian stock exchanges. The IPO was more than successful: the shares were placed at a high price, and in 2006 Mikhelson already entered the Russian business elite with a fortune of $3 billion.
Most often, next to the name of Mikhelson, the name of Vladimir Putin’s longtime friend Gennady Timchenko (left), who since 2008 entered into the capital of Novatek with 13.13%, subsequently increasing it to the current 23.5%, is mentioned. Photo: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org
VIP friends
Although Mikhelson is proud of his independent achievements, fortune has given him many profitable business partners. So, back in 1993, the businessman met his future partner, Joseph Levinzon , who headed Purneftegazgeologiya. In 1996, Levinson became vice-governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Okrug. Evil tongues claimed that it was he who helped Mikhelson get the first licenses, and hearing this, the businessman is said to be angry: most of the licenses were received before Levinson’s high appointment.
Another eminent partner of Mikhelson - also a native of Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy - businessman, State Duma deputy from United Russia Leonid Simanovsky . In 2001, he became chairman of the board of directors of Nova, and subsequently of Novatek. Owns 1.6% of Novatek shares.
But most often, of course, next to the name of Mikhelson they mention the name of Vladimir Putin’s longtime friend Gennady Timchenko , who since 2008 entered into the capital of Novatek with 13.13%, subsequently increasing it to the current 23.5%. They say that the takeoff of Novatek’s business would not have been possible without this beneficial symbiosis. The future partners were brought together by the then chairman of the board of Gazprombank, Andrei Akimov . Having survived in the shadow of Gazprom, Novatek received an influential lobby with the arrival of Timchenko. In 2009, Mikhelson and Timchenko were given licenses to develop fields in Yamal, and a year later the government decided to develop LNG production in Yamal - Novatek began building a plant worth about $27 billion. This was followed by other major purchases and investment projects.
According to Leonid Viktorovich himself, they have “good human relations” with Timchenko. “I am pleased to work with this person,” the businessman said in an interview with Vedomosti. He spoke with admiration about his partner’s performance: he is “very motor, just a generator of vital energy.” In 2014, Timchenko came under sanctions from the EU, USA and Canada, but this did not discourage Mikhelson from continuing his cooperation. And in January 2018, Mikhelson himself was included in the “Kremlin list” of the US Treasury - a document about officials and businessmen close to Putin.
Behind gas production - petrochemistry
In 2010, Mikhelson bought the country's largest petrochemical company, SIBUR, from Gazprombank and proposed a new partnership to Novatek shareholders - Timchenko and the French Total. Timchenko entered the capital with 37.5%, subsequently reducing his share to 17%. Now SIBUR is the country's largest petrochemical company with assets valued at over $20 billion (at the time of the merger with TAIF, according to Interfax). Mikhelson is the chairman of the board of directors and owner of 36% of the company.
In December 2021, SIBUR launched the largest Russian petrochemical complex in Tobolsk - ZapSibNeftekhim. The construction of an even more powerful complex, the Amur Gas Chemical Complex, has also begun.
“Operational management rests entirely with managers, while I perform my function as chairman of the board of directors. I don’t delve into operational details, I only monitor strategic issues,” Mikhelson told Vedomosti about his involvement in SIBUR’s affairs.
Novatek became second in the country and feels organic in this role Photo: Government.ru, CC BY 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org
Curator of Yamal LNG
Mikhelson, together with Timchenko, built a globally important liquefied natural gas complex in Yamal. JSC Yamal-LNG is 50% plus 1 share owned by Novatek, 20% by the Total concern, 20% by the China National Petroleum Corporation and 9.9% by the Silk Road Fund. The plant, with a capacity of about 16.5 million tons of LNG per year, was launched in three stages - in 2021, 2021 and 2021. New Arctic tankers were also built specifically for the project. Products are supplied to Europe and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.
The businessman has repeatedly stated his readiness to enter the shipbuilding business (build icebreakers) for the sake of sales markets. “If you look at how American shipbuilding, or the currently most powerful Korean or Chinese, developed historically, not a single country was able to create normal shipbuilding without state support. Maximum benefits should be provided to Russian shipbuilding,” he believes.
Novatek became second in the country - and feels organic in this role, Mikhelson said. “We don’t have any difficulties with Gazprom. Any consumer does not want to buy from one producer: he wants to buy from Gazprom, Algeria, Norway, including all consumers now including LNG in their portfolio. Whether Novatek is there or not, they will still continue to buy LNG, so let it be better than Russian LNG. Gazprom understands this,” he explained.
A look at the IPO
Novatek, its business is my life. It is incorrect to translate it into numbers,” the businessman said back in 2005. Nevertheless, there are figures: since 2005, Novatek shares have been put up for IPO through the efforts of Mikhelson. In 2021, Novatek's market capitalization has even surpassed Gazprom. SIBUR is also striving for the same path: the company has been preparing to go public for several years, but the pandemic year has pushed back plans until the opening of the Amur Gas Chemical Complex in 2024–2025. Now Novatek’s capitalization is 4.3 trillion rubles. For comparison: Gazprom - 5.5 trillion, and Tatneft - 1.2 trillion rubles.
The businessman helps the Higher School of Economics and the HSE Lyceum, the Skolkovo school, a number of museums, etc. Photo: BUSINESS Online
Philanthropist
“I don’t like the word ‘philanthropy’, and I have never considered myself a philanthropist. I want to participate in the creation of something new,” said Mikhelson. Nevertheless, this is how he is perceived in the cultural community.
In 2009, Mikhelson created the Victoria - the Art of Being Contemporary foundation in Moscow for contemporary art, which represents Russian contemporary art in the West. In March 2021, Chanel announced the creation of an international cultural fund to support innovation in art; in Russia, the Michelson Foundation will become its partner. The businessman organized two cultural spaces: GES-2 in Moscow and on the Zattere embankment in Venice, where exhibitions and performances are held.
The businessman also helps the Higher School of Economics and the HSE Lyceum, the Skolkovo school, a number of museums, etc. Since April 2021, Leonid Viktorovich is the head of the board of trustees of the Russian Football Union. Probably not without the invitation of RFU President Alexander Dyukov , Chairman of the Board of Gazprom Neft. But most importantly, Mikhelson is a sponsor of the Krylya Sovetov football club, so Rubin does not seem to benefit from his favor.
Family
Mikhelson has a family and children. His wife Lyudmila and two daughters, Victoria and Erica , live abroad in the UK. Victoria, who graduated from the University of New York, heads the contemporary art foundation named in her honor.
A number of media outlets also wrote that the billionaire has a second family in Spain: his common-law wife Olga Eskova and a common son. Mikhelson did not comment on these rumors.
In 2021, Mikhelson took third place in the Forbes ranking of the richest people in Russia with a fortune of $17.1 billion Photo: Author: Krassotkin, CC0, commons.wikimedia.org
Among the richest people in Forbes
In 2021, Mikhelson took third place in the Forbes ranking of the richest people in Russia with a fortune of $17.1 billion. In 2016–2017 and 2019, it took first place in this rating. The businessman received the highest assessment of his wealth in 2019, when the publication valued him at $24 billion.
Passionate collector
“Art has always been in the orbit of my interests and attracted me,” said Mikhelson. “I don’t understand everything about contemporary art, but I’m happy that I may not understand something—I’m happy to get used to the unfamiliar, to learn to perceive and analyze new things.” I like the impressionists, I admire the Russian avant-garde, which was rejected in its time and became wildly popular relatively recently.” Mikhelson also spoke about his love for the circus, considering it an underrated genre: this, in his words, is “a very valuable and effective way of interacting with people.”
Mikhelson collects Russian impressionism and modern art. The collection of his foundation includes works by Wassily Kandinsky, Natalia Goncharova, Andy Warhol, Amedeo Modigliani and other artists.
Leonid Mikhelson now
In 2021, Leonid Mikhelson was included in the Forbes magazine lists as the richest Russian. On March 1, 2021, the businessman topped this rating for the first time, although he had been included in the list itself more than once in other positions.
In 2021, Leonid Viktorovich did not lose ground and again topped the rating of the Russian part of the Forbes magazine list of the richest people. In total, the list included 200 Russian businessmen from Russia, and the total wealth of these people amounted to $450 billion. Also, according to the magazine’s experts, the total number of dollar millionaires in Russia increased from 77 to 96 people compared to last year.
Vladimir Putin and Leonid Mikhelson
Such income of a businessman, especially confirmed by the official rating, attracted a new wave of attention to Leonid Viktorovich from both the press and Internet users. Ill-wishers saw secret conspiracies under Leonid Mikhelson’s financial condition. The businessman was reproached both for his nationality, since most Internet users, based on his last name, consider the businessman to be a Jew, and for his informal connections with the ruling elite.
Some of the articles in the media that Mikhelson topped the rating even came out with a headline that the list of the richest people in Russia begins with Putin’s friend. Other sources claim that Leonid Mikhelson cannot be considered one of the president’s close friends. The press calls Kirill Shamalov the main link between Mikhelson and Putin. This is Leonid Viktorovich’s business partner and the second largest shareholder of Sibur, whom Western media even call the husband of Putin’s youngest daughter.
Head of Novatek Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson
After the collapse of the USSR, the Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy enterprise was the first to be privatized in Russia and was renamed SPN Nova ; in parallel, under the strict leadership of Mikhelson, the company received the opportunity for large-scale development in the Tyumen region. There they also seized the East-Tarkosalinsky section for their own account.
In 1995, it came under the control of OJSC Novafinivest , which was headed by Mikhelson. But this company decided not to limit its capabilities in the oil and gas business, and they began to engage in hydrocarbon production. A few years later, this company renamed itself into the now well-known company Novatek , which today is the largest gas company in the Russian Federation.
Head of Novatek Leonid Mikhelson
At the beginning of the two thousandth, Leonid Viktorovich replenished his assets with a new plant for the production of insulating materials for pipelines “Truboizolyatsiya” . Already in 2005, something happened in the company that all employees persistently pursued - Novatek began to independently export gas through a terminal owned by Mikhelson’s company to the White Sea, and this was helped by the acquisition of the Purovsky condensate processing plant. Immediately after this rise, Novatek became the only private company on the Russian market.
Condition assessment
Leonid Mikhelson's fortune in 2021 was estimated at $14.4 billion, which allowed Leonid Viktorovich to become the richest businessman in Russia. Compared to the previous year, the billionaire’s financial assets increased by $3 billion and raised the businessman to a leading position in the ranking of the richest Russians. Among the world's oligarchs, Leonid Viktorovich ranks 60th.
In 2021, the businessman became richer by another $4 billion. This year, experts estimated Leonid Mikhelson’s fortune at $18.4 billion. As of 2017, the businessman owns shares of 24.8% in and 43.2% in Sibur.
Leonid Mikhelson
The businessman also owns 510 hectares near Sestroretsk, of which 370 hectares are alluvial areas. Mikhelson plans to build real estate on these lands.
The press does not know anything about the foreign assets of the businessman, both personal, such as houses or villas, and workers, including shares in holdings or other investments. But there are also no precise statements that the businessman’s foreign property does not exist.
Brief information
L. V. Mikhelson is a large and influential entrepreneur whose fortune is estimated at 24 billion US dollars. He is well known in business circles in Russia and other countries.
Leonid Viktorovich is the owner of almost 25% of the shares of OJSC Novatek and heads the board of directors of the Sibur holding. For 2 years in a row (2016-2017), his name was in 1st place in the list of the richest citizens of the Russian Federation. In 2021, Mikhelson lost his position, but in 2019 he again took 1st place on this list.
The businessman became famous not only for his fortune. Leonid Mikhelson is involved in charity work. He is in charge of a class for gifted children in one of the schools in the Samara region. The businessman helps museums, institutes, and enterprises that revive folk crafts. He is one of the founders of the Foundation for Regional Non-Profit Projects.
Billionaire's hobbies
The energy construction worker takes up photography in his free time. And this hobby is successfully combined with a love of travel. Photographs taken on long trips are often exhibited in art galleries. This is explained by the high professional level of the compositions.
Leonid Mikhelson’s biography has always had a place for sports. Even now, the tycoon does not give up physical exercise. In addition, he is considered an avid fan of the volleyball club owned by. In football he supports the Krylya Sovetov team from Samara.
