Young and rich


(Jrt)

Roman Abramovitch
Roman Abramovich Arkadievitch (sometimes spelled Abramovich, Russian: Роман Аркадьевич Абрамович), born on 24 October 1966 in Saratov, Russia, is a Russian oligarch of the Jewish faith. It was from 2000 to 2008 the governor of the Russian province of Chukotka (extreme north east)

In March 2007 it listed in Forbes magazine as the first capital of Russia and the Sixteenth World, whose value is estimated at 18.7 billion dollars. He is the youngest among the 25 largest wealth of the world, the average age is over sixty years.

It is famous outside Russia as the owner of Chelsea FC, club first division of English football, and more generally for its investment in European football. Abramovich is a very quiet despite the media exposure that confer its various activities. He rarely speaks publicly, leading journalists and biographers to speculate about his motives and goals.

Biography
Abramovich was born in Saratov in Russia in a Jewish family. Shortly after his birth, his mother Irina fell pregnant again. She decides to abort, but this causes septicemia she died while her son was only 18 months. While four years, his father Arkady died after a crash building. It is then raised by her paternal uncle, Leib Abramovich to Oukhta (1300 km from Moscow) to eight years and then to Moscow by another uncle, Abraam. He continued his studies when it is incorporated into the Soviet army. After his military service, he joined the prestigious Institute of the Oil and Gas in Moscow, he abandons to engage in business. Yet he obtained a diploma in petrochemicals. Much later, in 2000, he obtained a diploma from the Academy of Moscow.

Political career
In 1999 Abramovich was elected to the Duma as a representative of Chukotka, a region poor and sparsely populated in the extreme north-east Russia. This election allows him to both benefit from parliamentary immunity to escape the Russian tax in the near-desert region. On 24 December 2000, he was elected governor of Chukotka in succession to Aleksandr Nazarov. It harvest more than 90% of the vote. Thereafter, it invests considerable sums of money in this region, including building or renovating local infrastructure. It is estimated that at the end of 2007 its cumulative investment in the Chukotka region will amount to 1 billion dollars. It creates also a humanitarian aid organization "Pole of Hope" (Polius Nadezhdy) to help the people of this region is very difficult because of cold weather.

Abramovich said in 2003 that it would not for his re-election, whereas the development of Chukotka "proved very costly" and that it "was not satisfied." However, in late 2004, Russian President Vladimir Putin changed the law abolishing direct elections for the post of governor, thereafter, on 21 October 2005, Abramovich is governor appointed for another term.

In 2006, Abramovich has used his powers as governor to help the explorer Karl Bushby, who has been expelled from the region for violating the Russian border in from Alaska to Siberia in his attempt to turn the world on foot.

Fortune
Abramovich's career began in 1987 as a mechanic in a construction company in Moscow. From January 1989 until May 1991, he started his business by using a reform (perestroika) of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev that authorizes the creation of small private enterprises, cooperatives. He runs a cooperative called Uyut who specializes in the manufacture of toys polymers. With the breakup of the Soviet Union and the massive liberalization of the economy, Abramovich is interested in becoming business and stock market trader. It is among the first to focus on the sale of oil regardless of the stage production, buying oil from producers at the local domestic market prices and then selling abroad through a license exports. In 1992, a Moscow judge ordered the questioning of Abramovich referring to Article 90 of the Russian Criminal Code; at that time Abramovich was in business with a company lettono America. He is accused of having hijacked a train carrying millions of liters of oil on the journey Oukhta - Moscow, the train was under the command of a company he managed. The train was found in Latvia, and the investigation reveals that this oil was transported to Riga (Latvian capital) through false documents and intended to be sold locally to the army. Abramovich is taken into custody in this case, and will be laundered.

Thereafter, his interest in the financial markets and business broker allows Abramovich to grow gradually and to build contacts. It includes knowledge with Boris Berezovsky, who encounter proves to be the turning point of his career. Through contacts of Berezovsky in business and in the power, the ascent of both men is very fast.

On 24 August 1995, according to a decree issued by President Boris Yeltsin, the company Sibneft is created, destined to become a major player in the hydrocarbon sector in Russia. On 11 October the same year the assets of four state-owned enterprises in this segment are sent to Sibneft. Then qu'Abramovitch Berezovsky and benefit from the privatization of public enterprises conducted under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin, notably the public "loans against shares. This allowed large banks to acquire large enterprises to be privatized in exchange for financing the state budget.

They contact the Russian Prime Minister to encourage him to merge several major public oil from Russia in exchange for the promise that the oligarchs would support the election campaign of his party through their media and financial assets (Berezovsky, for example, controlled several major Russian media whose first Russian channel ORT and the newspaper Kommersant). So through these processes sometimes opaque that both men are in a position of buyers in the privatization of Sibneft, in late 1995. They win the auction for about $ 100 million and then control 49% of shares of the company, the rest remaining under state control. Through a series of successive bids, the State then sell the remaining 51%. Abramovich acquires almost 73% of the shares of Sibneft, after redemption of Berezovsky. Abramovich then acquires assets in aluminum purchased from private owners and merge the product with those of Oleg Deripaska to form RUSAL, a leading global producer of aluminum.

In April 2003, a merger is announced among other Yukos and Sibneft, but it was not followed up because of the Yukos affair. The chairman of Yukos at the time, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested and subsequently imprisoned for theft by fraud and widespread tax evasion in October 2003.

In September 2005, Abramovich sells stake to 72.7% from Gazprom, amounting to 13 billion dollars.

In May 2006 via his holding company Millhouse Capital buys 41% of the company Evraz, one of the first three Russian steel group. It confirms its willingness to invest in metallurgy. In late 2006, it acquired the U.S. group Oregon Steel steel company Evraz through to 1.8 billion euros. The transaction is subject to an investigation by the U.S. Treasury that could oppose it, for reasons of economic protectionism.

Abramovich is ranked the second wealthiest person in the UK. It is empowered to include in this list because he owns properties in London and Sussex. Its property of 440 hectares in West Sussex the previous owner was King Hussein of Jordan. This property has stables for 100 horses, two polo fields, a swimming pool, an area of clay pigeon shooting, a shooting range and a karting circuit.

Chelsea FC
In June 2003 he became the owner of companies that control the club Chelsea FC in the United Kingdom. He had apparently explored other opportunities to repurchase clubs before moving to Chelsea, which was financially vulnerable at that time.

This operation highlights in England or the tabloid nickname the club Chelski in reference to the Russian nationality of the investor (although the suffix-ski comes from the Polish language). Therefore qu'Abramovitch takes control, it invests huge amounts of money into the club absorbing debt departure of some 120 million euros and by injecting additional funds for transfers of players. The results are not expected: the Chelsea FC ends its first season under the Abramovich era as the second championship of England first division. The following year the team won the championship and qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League, thus placing themselves among the dominant teams in England and Europe. In 2008, Chelsea lost the final of the Champions League against Manchester United in Moscow. The club is also engaged in a campaign commercial development, with the aim of making an international brand.

So far, Abramovich's investment for transfers of players amounts to nearly 400 million euros. Some argue that the money pledged for the Chelsea FC cause some instability in the transfer market in Europe, because his fortune has allowed Abramovich to buy players at will at prices often higher than the market, without regard for the impact on the finances of the club. However, to some extent, its expenses have led to a redistribution of wealth in the English championship: purchases of some players have even allowed a club like West Ham to avoid problems with the administration of English football or even bankruptcy, with the purchase in 2003 by Chelsea FC Glen Johnson and Joe Cole for a total of 19 million.

CSKA Moscow
In March 2004, Sibneft gave its approval for three years as a sponsor for a sum of around 45 million euros to the team of CSKA Moscow. Although the company explained that the decision was taken by the entire management, some saw it as a response to attacks Abramovich from Russia, they Whereas the purchase of Chelsea FC was testimony his lack of patriotism. His interest in CSKA Moscow was still limited because the rules of the UEFA prevent a person from owning more than one team participating in European football competitions.

It has been laundered after a UEFA investigation into a possible conflict of interest. He was voted the most influential person in football by the Russian magazine Pro Sport in June 2004. In May 2005, CSKA Moscow won the UEFA Cup, thus becoming the first Russian team to win a competition for European football. In October 2005, Abramovich sold his shares in Sibneft, and the new owner of the company Gazprom, which already sponsors Zenit St. Petersburg cancels the agreement. (The Zenith win the UEFA Cup 2008).
On their 2005 fiscal year, the Chelsea FC has recorded losses of 180 million euros. In late 2006, announced the deficit is 210 million euros, and the club does not trade surplus before 2010. Nevertheless, recent statements suggest that Chelsea FC would spend less money on the transfer market in future.

Abramovich is also present in almost all matches played by Chelsea FC and shows his emotions during matches, a sign showing the eyes of his supporters love for the sport - although some argue that it is only a facade to it helps protect other interests more important - and visit the players in the locker room after each match. Its investments reflect the huge ambitions of Abramovich for the club. Recently, the club president Peter Kenyon said he thought see Chelsea FC become the best team in the world by 2014.

Russian national team
Abramovich is also affecting the organization of the Russian national team. He played a major role in the appointment of Guus Hiddink for the position of coach the Russian national football in 2006. Piet de Visser, a former recruiter club Hiddink (PSV Eindhoven), and now assistant to Abramovich at Chelsea, recommended that since Hiddink took office in a team that had not qualified for the World Cup FIFA Football 2006.

In late 2006, he announced an investment of 30 million euros to build a training center for the Russian selection, including six football fields, several tennis courts, swimming pool and a gym.

Avangard Omsk
Abramovich also owns the team of ice hockey for Avangard Omsk. In 2004, the team won the Superliga, his first title at the highest level Russian. In 2005, Avangard won the Champions Cup. Since 2008, the club is moving in the Continental Hockey League, a new competition in Eurasia.

Relations with the Kremlin
The proximity of Abramovich with Boris Yeltsin and his family is established: it is a close Tatiana Dyachenko (daughter of Boris Yeltsin, his adviser when he was president). Some details of this relationship have been reported by General Aleksandr Korzhakov in his biography, or it describes qu'Abramovich was responsible for finances of the family of Boris Yeltsin.

Nevertheless, its proposed merger between Sibneft and Yukos was seen by many as an attempt to distance from Russia, at a time when the Kremlin seemed to have decided to seek answers to some of the oligarchs when their practices . Abramovich was an associate of controversial Boris Berezovsky who has sold his shares in Sibneft, although in July 2005 Berezovsky announced his intention to pursue Abramovich to British justice to be forced to sell most of its Russian assets.

More recently, the transaction for the sale of Sibneft to Gazprom may be interpreted as evidence of good relations between Abramovich and Russian President Vladimir Putin, unlike other oligarchs who flee the country or are in prison. Good governance of the Chukotka region appears to be a source of satisfaction to President Putin, especially qu'Abramovitch publicly announced his lack of political intentions.

Family, other interests and activities
Abramovich was married to Olga (divorced, three years older than him, with one child) in 1987. They divorced in 1989. In 1991 he married Irina who worked as qu'hôtesse for Aeroflot, a Russian airline. He had met Irina as a passenger on one flight in which she worked. In early 2006, Roman and Irina Abramovich have five children: Anna (14 years), Arkhady, Sonya, Arina and Ilya. On 15 October 2006, the tabloid News of the World reported the rumor that Irina had hired two British lawyers because of suspicions of extramarital affairs. Speculation reported a divorce amounted to 8 billion euros making it the biggest ever divorce.

Originally Jewish, Abramovich is an ardent sympathizer to the cause and Jewish Israel, and has funded several projects in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In addition, the person of Jewish descent, the richest in Britain.

It is also a big fan of Formula 1, and is often in the paddock during the races in 2004, after Bernie Ecclestone, organizer of the F1, would have invited at the Monaco Grand Prix, rumors circulated on its willingness to invest in a stable Formula 1.

Read also Alex Ferguson

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