Biography:
Iskander Makhmudov was born on December 5, 1963, Bukhara. He held his childhood and youth in Tashkent. His mother taught foreign language in the university. Father worked as a builder.
In those days the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the Tashkent University was closely associated with military organizations, and trained staff to work in the East, where the Soviet Union supplied the weapons. That was especially honored and promised an extraordinary career take off.
After graduating from the institute, Iskander Makhmudov went to work in Libya, then in Iraq. In Libya he worked in an organization which is called the Principal Engineering Directorate; in Iraq - in a Soviet department, which was engaged in construction works.
The main building department was subject to the USSR State Committee for Foreign Economic Relations, and in practice it was engaged in arms transfers abroad and the training of military personnel in friendly countries. Among other things, the Directorate was engaged in management and construction of defense-strategic sites in Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Yemen.
Then Makhmudov was invited to the state foreign trade organization "Uzbekintorg", which was involved in the procurement of necessary goods to the republic within the allocated national quotas. He gained his first serious commercial experience there.
Later Iskander Makhmudov moved to Moscow where he met with his longtime friend and countryman Michael Cherny. The first steps in business they did together. Makhmudov settled in one of the structures in Trans World Group, but soon went out and engaged in the sale of copper.
Makhmudov has been selling the Russian metal to foreign countries for several years, without making any "sudden movements" and without drawing attention to his activities. His work in this market allowed him to acquire extensive ties both at business and at the regional and federal officials levels.
Starting from 1991 to June 1994 he was Deputy Director of Marketing AO "Alis". From July 1994 to February 1996 - Director of AOZT "Industrial-Financial Company" Meta Service».
In 1996 Mahmudov became CEO of the Gaysky mining and processing plant - the leading enterprise in the Urals for the extraction of copper ore.
In 1999, together with his partners created the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC), he has been president from its inception until nowadays.
In 2001 he was a member of the Board of Directors Uralelectromed (g.Verhnyaya Pyshma in the Sverdlovsk region).
He was a member of the Board of Directors of Commercial Bank "Sayan".
Makhmudov's empire is composed of seven major companies in the steel industry of the Middle Urals. Among them are - "Uralelectromed», Kachkanarsky mining and concentration complex (“GOK”) «Vanadium» and Sredneuralskiy Copper Smelter. More than 78 % stake in UMMC belong to the firms located in offshore areas, and actually work for a foreign capital.
Iskander Makhmudov alone controls nearly half of Russia's production of copper, two-thirds of the production of zinc and a quarter of the rolled non-ferrous metals. His holding is the eighth producer of wagons and locomotives. in the world Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC), a former president of which is Makhmudov, includes dozens of companies located in 30 regions of Russia: from the Far East to Vladimir.
Makhmudov has been married twice. Makhmudov parted with his former wife before moving to Moscow, but according to some sources, he devotes a lot of time to his son from the first marriage.
Sources: www.svdevelopment.com, www.lobbying.ru
Dossier:
In 2000 the name of Makhmudov was associated with the Kachkanar GOK "Vanadium" scandal. In 1999 Makhmudov entrusted to operate the business to his childhood friend Jalol Haidarov. But soon Mahmudov became displeased with the fact Khaidarov wanted to be the owner of the company by himself. Mahmudov considered that Khaidarov arrogated 72% of the shares the GOK, and initiated a trial during which the legitimate rights of the shareholders were recognized. Khaidarov disagreed, in response to this Mahmudov arrived to the company together with the police officers. Khaidarov fielded a crowd of workers and retirees against, they had been previously persuaded that Mahmoud was going to destroy and to close the plant. Makhmudov dispersed the crowd with water cannon at twenty degrees C below. Pictures with the happening circled all the media causing a real shock. After using water cannons the police officers entered the enterprise, and it passed to the Mahmudov.
Source: www.svdevelopment.com, 2000
Khaidarov went abroad after the dismissal of the GOK's general director, and there joined forces with another ex-tycoon Mikhail Zhivilo; the latter sued in the U.S. with the owners of Rusal for the Novokuznetsk Aluminum Plant. They filed a claim for total of $ 3 billion for the act of conducting racketeering and corruption, implying a three time payment to the victims in the Federal Court in New York in 2001. But in 2003 the court refused to consider it.
Source: "Vedomosti" from 09.11.2004
In 2004 Khaidarov filed a new lawsuit in the U.S. court against Makhmudov. At this time the amount of the claim was two times less. The new suit did not affect the business of Makhmudov .
Source: "Vedomosti" from 09.11.2004
Just a few days after the seizure of Kachkanar GOK Makhmudov seized power in the Nizhnesadinsky Metallurgical Complex. Andrei Kozitsyn led the attackers; he had been appointed new CEO in Kachkanar GOK by Mahmudov. The scheme of the operation was very similar to the seizure of GOK. While the company CEO Damir Gareev and five of his deputies had been locked in the staff room without a telephone connection, the invaders took away documents and stamps of the company. The workers who tried to infiltrate the territory of the enterprise once again were doused with water. Gareev was forced to leave the plant.
Source: "Kommersant» # 15 (1900) on 02/02/2000
The venture «Karabashmed» also was a mean of the power struggle for Mahmudov. The aim of Makhmudov was to stop creation of a single "copper" holding in Russia based on the Kyshtym Electrolytic Copper Plant («KMZ»). It was supposed to unite "Karabashmed» and a number of other enterprises. The initiators of the project were the head of Bashkortostan Murtaza Rakhimov and Chelyabinsk Governor Pyotr Sumin. Thus, Makhmudov could have gained strong competitors. A number of the companies by UMMC supplying raw materials to the enterprises of «KMZ”, and Mahmoud decided to reduce them.
Source: "Kommersant» # 88 (1973) on 19/05/2000
Namely, they reduced supply from the Gaysky GOK (member of the UMMC) to the "Karabashmed». The purchase of Karabash copper-smelting plant became a method of pressure on the «KMZ”.
Source: "Kommersant» # 93 (2223) on 31/05/2001
In September 2001 it became known about the death of an "authoritative" entrepreneur Anton Malevsky (Anton Izmailovsky) - he crashed jumping with a parachute in South Africa. In 2001 Haydarov and Zhivilo filed a claim for $ 3 billion in the Court of New York against Mahmudov; accroding to them, he together with the partners - Michael Cherny and Oleg Deripaska used Malevsky in the negotiations on the fate of the Kachkanar GOK, then he had been acting as a "threat".
Source: "Kommersant» # 205 (2335) on 09/11/2001
One of the scandals associated with the name of Makhmudov concerned the divorce of a steel magnate Alexei Mordashov with his wife Elena. Once Mordashov announced his intentions to fight for the enterprise «Kuzbassugol» by Mahmudov, Elena Mordashova accused her former husband of an insufficient child support.
Source: "Profile" on 11/09/2001
The Nikulinsky District Court in Moscow reviewing the suit by Mordashova seized 32,5% stake in Severstal as an interim measure; Mordashov was the head of the company. The petition claimed those shares of Mordashov.
Source: Vedomosti on 16.08.01
Mordashov anticipated that Makhmudov might have been involved in such a turn of events, as soon as prosecutor Vladimir Ponevezhsky got engaged in the matter of alimony; at one time director of the Kachkanar GOK - Jalol Haydarov had been removed from his post with his assistance. Makhmudov assumed that in case Mordashova would sue anything from her former husband, he would most likely want to buy that thing.
Source: "Profile" on 11/09/2001
In 2005, the prosecutor of Bashkiria instituted a criminal case for causing very serious injury to the Bashkir copper sulphate plant (BMSK)managed by UMMC . The stake in BMSK owned by the government of Bashkiria, was transferred to the trust management by UMMC in 2004. Since then, its debt has increased significantly. UMMC is also suspected of the withdrawal of the assets of the company and its deliberate bankruptcy.
Source: "Kommersant" from 17.11.2005
In March 2009 in the Saratov region opened a criminal case against OAO «Transmash» for failure in its tax liabilities. No specific charges havet been instituted. The enterprise did not deny that it had not paid the taxes, and referred to the fact that had been an essential measure for the development of the production. Since 2007, the owners of the controlling stake of the company became GC "TransGroup" and "Transkreditbank", one of its principal owners is Makhmudov.
Source: Kommersant (Saratov) # 58 (4113) on 02/04/2009