Unfinished business: Russian billionaire sells Aeroflot shares, eyes rival bank
Aleksandr Lebedev, an outspoken Kremlin critic and media mogul with assets in Russia and Britain, plans to unload his remaining 4.5 percent stake in Russia’s national airline, Aeroflot, a Russian news source quoted the billionaire as saying.
After a brush with the law and an increase in his UK media
holdings, it may appear Lebedev is jettisoning his Russian
assets, but the former KGB-man-turned-oligarch may be putting his
eggs in another basket, according to Isvestia news, who
Thursday reported Lebedev plans to acquire a 2.1 percent stake in
Pushkino Bank, for a nominal fee.
“By the end of June, I can become a shareholder of the
bank,” Lebedev is quoted by Izvestia.
Lebedev is picking up a minority share in order to gain influence
in the bank's affairs, which would grant him the ability to
challenge shareholder decisions.
“As a minority shareholder I will be able to file complaints
to the regulatory authorities, and be able to request inspections
for any illegal asset withdrawals,” said Lebedev.
A large portion of the bank is owned by Aleksandr
Dobrovinsky, who said he is willing to sell the entire credit
institution to Lebedev for nearly $99 million (3.2 billion
roubles).
According to the National Rating Agency (NRA), on May 1, 2013,
Pushkino ranks 158th out of Russia’s top 200 banks.
“I would gladly sell it to him tomorrow for assets,” said
Dobrovinsky, who is also the lawyer representing developer Sergey
Polonsky with whom Lebedev got involved in a fist fight on
live television in 2011.
Lebedev is currently on trial for the on-air brawl, and faces up
to five years in prison if he is convicted on the charges of
hooliganism and battery. He views the charges as ‘motivated by
political hatred’ in an attempt to smear his name and sink his
billions in assets.
Polonsky, was arrested in Cambodia while on vacation for
holding six sailors hostage and physical violence last January.
Lebedev fell from Forbes billionaire list this year, after
he graced the chart with a $1.1 billion fortune in 2012.
Unfinished business
It doesn’t seem like Lebedev is quite finished with his Russian business.
On 5 November 2012, he announced he would close all the regional
offices of the National Reserve Bank and sell off the real estate
as well as 75 percent of the bank's loan portfolio, worth 16.8bn
roubles ($542m).
The main source of his wealth, Lebedev has owned the bank since
1995, which was one of few to survive the 1998 financial crisis.
Shedding his Aeroflot stakes may appear to be the 53-year-old
oligarch’s final severance with Russia after getting rid of the
National Reserve Bank and other Russian assets.
Lebedev’s current share of Aeroflot is worth $78 million (2.5
billion roubles). He once owned 25.8 percent in Aeroflot, and
over the years has decreased his stake, selling shares back to
the state. In February 2012 he was nominated to the board of
Aeroflot by his bank. The bank also nominated anti-corruption
blogger Alexey Nalvalny, who was elected to the board
in June 2012.
In February 2013, Lebedev ironically tweeted his grandson, then 15-months old,
should be appointed to Aeroflot’s advisory board, drawing
comparisons between the decision making ability of his grandson
and the board.
In 2009 he began to purchase UK media outlets, and on January 21,
his company Evening Press Corporation acquired a 75.1
percent share of the Evening Standard newspaper for £1.00. A year
later, Lebedev bought The Independent and Independent
on Sunday for the same nominal price.
“I just want to work as a journalist," he told The Guardian earlier this month after appearing in Moscow court on hooliganism charges.
Lebedev, the journalist
A Moscow native and son of Russian intelligentsia, Lebedev’s
business empire is vast and includes parts of Gazprom, spas in
Crimea, Europe’s largest potato farm, hotels in Italy, and
previously mentioned British news outlets.
His son, Evgeny, lives in London and runs the family's British
newspaper titles. Lebedev generously gives to charities dedicated
to restoring and commemorating Soviet monuments and heroes
abroad.
In tandem with former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, Lebedev owns 49 percent of
Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta which often
runs ‘exposes’ on political and financial corruption. Newspaper
staff controls the remaining 51 percent of the shares.
Lebedev had an unsuccessful mayoral bid for Moscow in 2003, only
garnering 13 percent of the vote. He was a member of the State
Duma until 2007.
The Russian government may sell Aeroflot shares this year as part
of a plan to raise 427 billion roubles ($13.5 billion) through
state asset sales to help balance the budget and reduce its role
in the economy. The government is also selling off VTB and Rosneft shares.
