Biography
He was born in Leningrad in 1954. In 1976, he graduated from the Tartu State University specializing in applied mathematics. In 1981, he received a Ph. D.
In 1976-1988 - worked in the Ministry of Forestry and Nature Conservation of the Estonian SSR.
In 1988-1998 - held managing posts in the joint-venture companies: Estland-West, Handels GmbH, Shanton International LTD and Raznoimport Trading (UK) LTD
In 1998-2000 - head representative of the Raznoimport (UK) LTD in the Eastern Europe.
Since 1997, he held the posts of the board of director’s member of the following companies: commercial bank Flora-Moskva JSC, Volkhovsky Aluminum Plant JSC, Pikalevsky Alumina Plant JSC, Syasky Pulp and Paper Plant JSC, Volgogradsky Aluminum Plant, Metallurg JSC, and Klyuchevsky Ferroalloy Plant JSC.
Since 2003 –member of the board of directors of the SUAL Holding JSC.
Source: VIPERSON.ru
Dossier
In 1989-91s, Bronstein Sen. was the deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and when Estonia got independence, he worked in the embassy of this republic in Moscow for 4 years. He is well acquainted with the first heads of the sovereign country. For example, Lennart Mari, who held the president post of Estonia in 1992-2001, was a student of Mikhail Bronstein in Tartu University.
Source: IzRus, June 22, 2011
The Trans World commercial group, that dominated the aluminum factories of Siberia in 1990s, left unnoticed some smaller producers of the “winged” metal situated in the European part of Russia. That gave the opportunity to the metal-trader Aleksandr Bronstein and his partners to take over the Volgogradsky and Volkhovsky aluminum plants and then over the Pikalevsky Alumina Plant Production Association. In 2002, when the consolidation of the actives in the aluminum field was coming to the end, Bronstein gave his plants to the SUAL Holding in exchange for the shares of the holding.
Source: Russian Forbes, May 13, 2004
In 2004, the holder of the Pikalevo manufacturing complex Sevzapprom Company, which belonged to the basic materials oligarch Aleksandr Bronstein, decided to sell it by parts. Then three independent enterprises appeared: the Pikalevsky Alumina Plant which was sold to the SUAL holding; the Pikalevsky Cement Plant which was bought by the Inteko building company and then resold to the Filaret Galchev’s Eurocement holding, and, at last, the chemical enterprise Metakhim (producing soda and potash), which the seller left for himself. One newsworthy detail is that Bronstein signed an interesting agreement on transferring of the basic material from the Pikalevsky Alumina Plant with himself that was with the Metakhim Company. The price in the agreement was fixed, and the period of validity was stated as 25 years…
So, the ex-owner kept the most precious part of the complex for himself: Metakhim sold soda and potash to foreign countries. Besides, the Sevzapprom secured itself by the contract for a quarter of a century ahead, as if foreseeing that the fixed prices were going to become the worst battle-ground at all the Pikalevsky enterprises.The price of the trick was really high. The breakeven of the Pikalevsky Alumina Plant turned to zero, the Apatit raised the price by half, and meanwhile it had to rise each year. The fettering character of the agreements with the contra-agents made the Pikalevsky Alumina plant risk refusing from nepheline and begins to produce the alumina basing on bauxites. However, this chain turned out to be ineffective, and the contract with the Apatit was signed in 2006. It should be able to guess that the SUAL holding wasn’t worried much about the Pikalevsky Alumina plant as a contract on selling the whole company was being prepared. By the way, Bronstein played a significant role in this agreement as well, because he was a member of the board of directors in the SUAL holding.
Sourse: Fontanka, March 13, 2009
At the meeting with the Pikalevo enterprises owners, Vladimir Putin metaphorically said about the case: the persons concerned “picked the raisins out of the roll”.
Sourse: Vash Tayny Sovetnik, March 15, 2010
Bronstein along with his partners Mikhail Shlosberg and Alexey Shmargunenko owns the Pikalevskaya soda and ranks 64th, with the capital of $0.14 billion,, in the Russian billionaires rating.
Sourse: Finans, June 14, 2011
According to the media, Bronstein spends some part of his capital on purchasing some pieces of art. Aleksandr Hochinsky acts as his agent on the antique purchasing.
There is yet another dark on Bronstein’s biography.
In 2010, the St. Petersburg criminal authority Andrey Leukhin, nicknamed Medved (literally - Bear), was sentenced to 11 years in prison for illegal takeover of enterprises. It became clear at the trial that the raiders, actually selling the leasehold interest of Mikhail Romanov’s Palace, honestly had warned the buyer that the “product” had been illegally acquired. But the company, owned, as they say, by the famous oligarch Alexander Bronstein, hadn’t been confused. One of Leukhin’s crime accomplices told about that in the court. According to him, representatives of the Romtrade Holdings Limited Company had stated that the powerful administrative resource of the influential buyer would help them to solve the problem.