Biography:
Born October 12, 1963 in Leningrad. He graduated from Leningrad Engineering-Construction Institute. From 1985 to 1988 worked as a foreman in Trust № 18 "Santehmontazh-62", in 1988-1989 - Head of construction site of the plant “Santehoborudovanie”. In 1989 – 1991 he was Deputy Chairman of the cooperative "Industry"; since 1992 - General Director of Adamant. Married, has with two children.
Company "Adamant", which is headed by Leytis, is the largest chain of stores for the interior, best known in St. Petersburg and North-West region.
Another area of the company business is the construction of shopping centers.
Nowadays "Adamant" is a trade network of ten stores with total area of 6.5 thousand square meters. ZAO "Adamant" also has two restaurants, a bar, and a night club.
The company owns 30% stake in shopping malls: "Balkan", "Shuvalovo", "Aerodrom", the windows and doors production "Evrostroystandart",has is a motor transport enterprise with the park of 32 cars.
The Company’s staff counts 700 Employees.
"Adamant" holds shares in “StroyInvest" and "StroyInvest-1". Adamant participated in the construction of large shopping centers like "Kupchinsky", "Shuvalovo", "Adamant" at the metro station "Pionerskaya", which were opened in 1997-98.
"Adamant" owns 13 shopping centers with a total area of more than 60 000 square meters. Also, the company owns a chain of confectionery "Ontrome", "Adamant" and "Valhalla" restaurants, Casino Club Plaza, as well as a cafe-club "Taboo" in Moscow.
Source: www.ceo.spb.ru
Dossier:
In the mid 90’s Igor Leytis, then a novice businessman was under an influence of the criminal authority close to the Tambovskaya criminal group, Vladimir Golubev (Barmaley). In particular, media wrote that Golubev knocked up the initial fortune and became actively engaged in business keeping the relations to the Tambovskaya gang. He became "in charge" of the trading network "Adamant" and after some time managed to obtain the founder’s rights in the firm which was so well-known in St. Petersburg.
Source: "Banditsky Peterburg" from 2004
In general, Igor Leytis is a very public figure, he is happy to talk to the press; especially when asked about his own achievements, or offered to act as an expert. At the same time journalists turn to Leytis due to the fact that he has been involved in large development projects, indicating the presence of some very decent administrative resources.
In particular, in 2006, journalists reported on informal relationship between Leytis and the board member of Gazprom Valery Golubev. They wrote about this in relation to a major transaction for the sale of the building of the banking institution on Nevsky Prospect, which was acquired for $ 17 million by OOO “Luka-invest”. According to the journalists, the building was purchased for Valery Golubev – a former administration official of St. Petersburg (as well as the old friend and colleague of President Vladimir Putin), who had been overseeing the selection of properties for Gazprom. The operator of the transaction was manager of the holding "Adamant" Igor Leytis, whose representative - Alexander Kvashonkin (he had previously acquired Hotel "Moscow” for "Adamant") and won the auction for the "Luka-Invest”.
Source: newspaper "Kommersant-SPB" № 96 (3427) on 31.05.2006
That transaction led Leytis to the courtroom. Leytis had to terminate the contract of long-term lease with the International Banking Institute (“MBI”), which had been occupying a building on Nevsky Prospekt, 58, acquired by his company at the auction of Urban Property Fund. Interestingly, those trustees of the MBI confronting with Leytis at that time were as follows: Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin and Economic Development Minister Herman Gref. But in the end the parties managed to agree.
Source: newspaper "Kommersant-SPB" № 235 (3566) on 15.12.2006
In January 2008, at the site of Directorate of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad region an information about the administrative liability of Igor Leytis appeared imposing a fine of $ 2,5 thousand on him. The essence of the offense was the following - Inconsistencies with the Antimonopoly authority on the acquisition of more than 20% of the voting shares in Lenexpo, which occupied more than 35% of the market for the trade exhibitions in Petersburg.
As Mr. Leytis told reporters, he has obtained about 31% of the shares of the company, which owns a trade and exhibition complex in the Harbour.
Judging by the press reports, those actions by FAS had not affect the business plans of Leytis, the scandal was hushed up.
Source: newspaper "Kommersant-SPB" № 15 (3832) on 01.02.2008
In February 2008, "Adamant" appeared to be involved in a very ugly story connected with a series of murders of colored people in St. Petersburg. The reporters discovered that one of the neo-Nazis gangs had been holding its gatherings in the premises belonging to businessman Oleg Rudakov, who at that time was a business partner Igor Leytis and had a number of common business projects with him. Rudakov was then the owner of OOO "Forum", which was the co-founder of OOO "Adamant Capital”. Thus, according to the journalistic perception of the situation, a person from minions of Leytis provided the Nazis with his own premise for the preparation of their murders.
Source: "Vash tayny sovetnik” № 6 (284) from 18.02.2008
In October 2008, they reported on a joint project by Leytis and a well-known businessman Shalva Chigirinsky. The Holding Company "Adamant" sold to the company Russian Land by Shalva Chigirinsky a blocking stake in the company ZAO “TPF Passazh”. Company's main asset was the building of the same name department store on Nevsky Prospect, 48. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but according to experts, it could have been about $ 40-50 million. They assumed that soon after the completion of the transaction the company of Shalva Chigirinsky would become the 100 % owner of the ZAO "TPF Passazh”. However, the story also turned into a scandal later.
Source: newspaper "Kommersant-SPB" № 182 (3999) on 08.10.2008
Also in late 2008, they reported on the joint grandiose plans of the state corporation "Rostekhnologii" together with "Adamant". Journalists wrote "Adamant" occurred to be a partner for "Rostekhnologii” which was going to help them privatize the nearly two hundred federal state unitary enterprises (FSUE) and "develop non-core assets." In this regard, the experts were surprised by the fact such a company could get access to registers of defense enterprises. There were hints of some informal relations between Head of “Rostekhnologii” Chemezov and Leytis.
Interestingly, considering the net profits, inhered to the computation of the company that was supposed to be created for the project, amounting to 30% of its total expenditure, it was to make up from 195 million to 285 million rubles per year. At the same time, the sources of funding were to be the main state funds: the funds of “Rostekhnologii” controlling the federal state unitary enterprises and public companies, as well as "cross-financing", "credit resources" and "other".
Source: Kommersant № 201 (4018) on 06.11.2008
Since May 2009, Igor Leytis tried to arrest the St. Petersburg apartment of Shalva Chigirinsky worth up to ? 4 million through his firm Edimax in the courts of St. Petersburg and Moscow. The arrest was announced as an interim measure in the trial in the London International Arbitration. According to Edimax, Mr. Chigirinsky did not pay up for the Cypriot companies transferred to him; they owned real estate in St. Petersburg, in particular, the department store "Passage".
In August 2009, Shalva Chigirinsky put on sale store "Passazh" for $ 70 million due to his own financial troubles. The journalists wrote that the sale could be complicated because of the fact that Chigirinsky had not yet paid for the purchase of "Passazh" by the time. In fact, Leytis blocked the deal because he considered that Chigirinsky owed him.
Sources: Kommersant № 121 (4176) on 08.07.2009, № 153 (4208) on 21.08.2009
In the summer of 2009 first reports appeared in the press stating that Leytis had some financial problems associated with the crisis. In particular, they talked about the fact that the fall in demand of the holding "Adamant", which had been developing a network of "Domovoy" - was forced to close all regional projects, leaving the shops in St. Petersburg and Moscow only.
Source: Kommersant (N. Novgorod) № 133 (4188) on 24.07.2009
In the end of 2009 journalists reported about Leytis in connection with the criminal authority - Vladimir Golubev (Barmaley) who was a business partner to Leytis. In particular , the biography of Golubev contained the information that Vladimir Golubev owned the company "Alliance” jointly with Igor Leytis. Besides that, Golubev was an honored trainer of Russia on boxing, Honorary Doctor of the St. Petersburg State Academy of Physical Education and Cavalier of the award of “Sports Veteran of the Bryanskaya Oblast”; he had been continuously managing Boxing Federation "Army Sports Club”, founded by "Adamant"
Source: "Our version of the Neva" from 15.10.2009
In early 2010, there were new reports of reduced financial indicators of business achievement by Leytis. They wrote that the amount of shopping space input of "Adamant" had slowed markedly. For example, last year, the holding put into operation about 57 thousand square meters, Igor Leytis says, while in 2008 the volume of input amounted to 170 thousand square meters, and in 2007 - 150 thousand square meters. According to him, in 2011, they do not plan launching a large number of objects - only 80 thousand square meters of shopping space.
Source: newspaper "Kommersant-SPB" № 6 / R (4306) on 18/01/2010
However, in early 2010, Leytis’s business has turned the corner. Such a conclusion can be drawn from the application to start construction of a glass factory in Moscow region - the media reported that the ZAO "Russian Glass Company” (RGC), a member of the holding “Adamant” planed to open the ninth Russian production facility for industrial glass processing in 2012. Investments in the project are estimated at ? 45-50 million. As it was also reported, at the same time the official opening of the plant "Russian Glass Company" happened in the village Pargolovo. At that time, the RGC had opened factories in Zhukovsky, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk, and Samara region, Yaroslavl, Krasnodar and St. Petersburg.
Source: newspaper "Kommersant-SPB" № 20 (4320) on 05.02.2010