Zee Beam News

Feb. 13, 2009 (Bloomberg by Alex Nicholson and Ellen Pinchuk) - The number of Russian billionaires shrank to 49 from 101 in past year as asset prices tumbled and the global financial crisis pushed the country to the brink of recession after a decade of growth. Troika Dialog Chairman Ruben Vardanian, Mirax Group founder Sergei Polonsky, Sibir Energy Plc’s Chalva Tchigirinski and OAO Polymetal shareholder Alexander Mamut are among the 51 Russians who lost their billionaire status, Finans magazine said in an e- mailed statement today. The magazine will publish its sixth annual list on Feb. 16. Ex-billionaire Tchigirinski burst out laughing when asked how he felt about not being on the list. “Nobody knows who’s going to stay or not,” he said by telephone today. Russia’s 10 richest people saw their wealth drop by 66 percent to a combined $75.9 billion since the last survey by Finans, a Russian rival to Forbes. The Price of Urals crude, Russia’s chief export earner, has fallen 51 percent since Feb. 13 last year to $44.39 per barrel today. The Micex stock market has dropped 57 percent in the past year and the ruble has plunged 29 percent against the dollar as the global slowdown hobbles demand for the country’s energy and metals exports. Now, Russia’s richest are putting up chunks of their empires as collateral for government support, or loosing them to foreign creditors, after companies tripled their international debt in the past three years.
Deripaska’s Rusal: Oleg Deripaska, the 41-year-old founder of United Co. Rusal, the world’s biggest aluminum company by capacity, topped Finans’ list last year with a $40 billion fortune. In October Deripaska was forced to cede stakes in auto-parts maker Magna International Inc. in Canada and German builder Hochtief AG to banks after the stocks lost more than half of their market value. The magazine didn’t say how much he is worth now. Rusal was able to hold on to a 25 percent stake in OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, Russia’s biggest metals producer after a $4.5 billion bailout loan from state development bank VEB. Some of Russia’s newest billionaires who owed their fortunes to the building boom were also the first to leave Finans’ list. Eight of the 15 mentioned in the press release made their money entirely or in part in construction. Work on Tchigirinsky’s Russia Tower, designed by architect Norman Foster to be the tallest building in Europe at 612 meters when completed, was “frozen” along with other projects in November.
Downgraded: Polonsky’s Mirax Group was downgraded by Fitch Ratings on Feb. 10 to CCC, eight steps below investment grade, on concern the company will struggle to meet its commitments to pay $133 million of debt due this year. The billionaire at the bottom of the top 10 is now worth $4.5 billion, compared with $15 billion for TNK-BP shareholder German Khan a year ago. “The majority of people are happy; they like that these oligarchs are getting poorer,” Tchigirinsky said. “Mentally, after the revolution and socialism they like it, they think these oligarchs deserve it.”