Page 6 - FSUOGM Week 01 2021

FSUOGM COMMENTARY FSUOGM

Kirill Shamalov and the

$100 Sibur stake

Senior executive Kirill Shamalov reportedly received a 3.8% stake in

petrochemical giant Sibur for $100 after he reportedly married Russian

President Vladimir Putin’s daughter, writes bne IntelliNews

RUSSIA RUSSIAN politics has been rocked by a spat of
scandals and some blockbuster investigations
recently that have set the newswires humming
and sent Kremlinologists into top gear.
Amongst the most notable has been the
investigation into Kirill Shamalov and his rela-
tions with Russia’s petrochemical giant Sibur.
Shamalov is reportedly Russian President
Vladimir Putin’s ex-son-in-law and the latest
investigation suggests he received a generous
“wedding present” in form of a 3.8% stake in
Sibur worth hundreds of millions of dollars,
paying only $100 for it.
Putin rarely comments on his private life and
declined to do so again during his recent annual of the most dynamically developing companies Sibur executive Kirill
press conference. And he never talks about his in the global petrochemical industry, as profiled Shamalov.
two daughters. However, according to reports by bne IntelliNews, and is promising to eventu-
Shamalov married Katerina Tikhonova and ally carry out a highly anticipated IPO, when the
more recently the couple got divorced. Shamalov market conditions are right. In the meantime it
has also not commented on the relationship. has issued a series of Eurobonds that have been
Shamalov is a well-connected and successful amongst the cheapest bonds ever issued by a
businessman. He is the younger son of Nikolai Russian corporate.
Shamalov, a co-owner of Rossiya Bank and a Until 2010 Sibur’s key shareholder was Gaz-
former economic advisor to the Russian govern- prombank, which introduced an incentive pro-
ment. In 2008, he was appointed as a vice-pres- gramme for its top management as the company
ident of Sibur and has served on the board of revved up for the changes that have since been
directors there until this day. put in place. The programme promised a hefty
Journalists have reported that in 2013 as part remuneration for the management for achiev-
of an incentive programme for Sibur top-manag- ing certain key performance indicators (KPIs).
ers Shamalov acquired a stake in Sibur’s holding Shamalov, who had already been a top executive
company, called Themis Holdings Ltd., paying at the company for two years that is five years
only $100 for control of a 3.8% shareholding in before he reportedly got married. Shamalov was
Sibur, while other managers reportedly paid mil- included in the incentive programme along with
lions of dollars for smaller stakes. other senior executives, according to Sibur CEO
According to some journalistic investigations Dmitry Konov in a comment to the Russian pub-
this was due to the fact that in that same year lication that released the investigation.
Shamalov allegedly became President Putin’s In December 2010, Gazprombank sold its
son-in-law. 100% stake in Sibur to a new shareholder Leonid
“However, these reports miss out on quite Mikhelson, who is also the key shareholder in
a lot of detail, which show that the $100 deal LNG producer Novatek.
was actually an ordinary transaction within an According to Forbes, Mikhelson bought
incentive programme,” a Sibur representative 100% of Sibur for approximately RUB150bn
told bne IntelliNews. “To understand how this ($5bn at the time). Structurally, the deal con-
transaction came about you have to put it into sisted of multiple transactions and involved two
context.” key companies affiliated with Mikhelson – CJSC
The company has gone through a lot of MIRACLE and Themis Holdings Ltd. Both com-
changes in the last decade, emerging from the panies bought c. 50% of Sibur and took out equal
largest Russian petrochemical concern into one collateralised loans to finance the purchase.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 01 06•January•2021