Biography:
Born May 12, 1960 in the village Novobrattsevo, Krasnogorsk district of the Moscow region. In 1977 he finished the Ulyanovsk secondary school in the village Putilkovo, Krasnogorsk district; entered the Tambov Higher Military Aviation Engineering School, which finished with honors.
In 1988 he graduated with honors and a gold medal from the Air Force Engineering Academy by the name of N.E. Zhukovsky. He served in Afghanistan and in the Far East.
In the 1990's Nikolay Tsvetkov moved his activities to the financial market. Working actively in the market, he studied at the Plekhanov New Economic Academy specializing in marketing.
In 1988 - 1992 - taught at the Moscow Institute of Electronic and Automation;
in 1993 - established the Petroleum Investment Company «NIKoil»;
in 1992 - 1993 - Vice-president of the investment company "Brokinvest"
in 1993 - 1994 - Manager of "LUKoil-fund».
In 1994 - 1995 — being the president of the company «NIKoil», led the Department of Securities in "LUKOIL".
In 1996 - 1997 - Vice-President and Director-General on financial and investment activities "LUKOIL".
In 1997 - 2003 - President and Chairman of the Board of Directors «NIKoil».
In 1997 - 1998 - Adviser to the Chairman of the Board of Investment-Banking operations, Deputy President on investment banking operations, the head of liability management in NPF JSCB "Rodina".
Since 1999 - Chairman of the Board of Directors "Novorossiysk sea trading port".
In 2002 - he acquainted the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory.
Since 2003 - Chairman of the JSCB "AVTOBANK-NIKOIL».
In 2004, FC NIKoil entered into a strategic partnership agreement with the Bank Group URALSIB, which was planned for the exchange of technology, and using integrated branch network of both structures for the joint selling of financial and insurance products and services.
2005 - 2007 - Chairman of the Board of JSC Bank «Uralsib»
Since 2007 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of FC «Uralsib».
In 2000, Financial Corporation NIKoil became a National Award winner in Business, and was recognized to be the best Finance Corporation of the year in Russia. Nikolai Tsvetkov became the winner of competition "Banker of the Year - 2000".
Tsvetkov is a Candidate of economic sciences; Thesis on "The problems of attracting domestic and foreign investment in oil and gas sector of Russia's economy." He has written over 30 articles and several monographs on the financial market and investment in the real economy sphere.
Sources: ippnou.ru from 06.06.2005, slon.ru on 18.05.09, peoples.ru from 20.03.2008
Tsvetkov is married and has two daughters.
At the beginning of 2007 the fortune of Tsvetkov was estimated at $ 9 billion, he held the 12th place in the list of 100 Russian millionaires (score magazine Forbes)
At the beginning of 2008, his fortune was estimated at $ 8.2 billion, took 24 place in the Top 500 of Russian billionaires (score of "Finance")
bestpeopleofrussia.ru
Dossier:
In 2003, NIKoil by Nikolai Tsvetkov called in the press a buyer of dubious asset, Avtobank. It was reported that since the early 90's the owner of Avtobank (as well as «Ingosstrakh», Orsk-Khalilovo metallurgical combine «Nosta», and several dozen of other enterprises) was Andrey Andreev - former senior operations officer of the Department Against Misappropriation of Socialist Property (OBKhSS). According to press reports, Andreev's participation in the bank capital and the insurance company was camouflaged by offshore companies, as well as by a system of cross-ownership. But the attempts of Andreev to work in a highly competitive industries were not supported by sufficient financial and administrative resources. As a result, in 2001 Andreev lost his business empire. The consortium, consisting of "Basic Element», Millhouse Capital and Nafta-Moscow " became the owner of his assets. As the press was writing, later the entrepreneur himself insisted that had not sold Avtobank, Ingosstrakh, Nosta and others, but in fact they had been stolen from him. He declared in the press the following: " they put strong pressure on me, all staff, and managers of the holding. Directors of the companies, shareholders favoring me were beaten and forced to sign the documents. Some of the signatures were simply forged». As reported, Andreev tried to protect his rights in court, he turned to law enforcement agencies claiming to return his assets, but failed. Ingosstrakh still belonged to Oleg Deripaska, «Nosta» came under the control of Alisher Usmanov. Avtobank became one of the components of FC Uralsib after NIKoil bought it from the company Millhouse Capital, STC "Nafta-Moscow" and IPG "Sibal".
Nikolai Tsvetkov said to the press that NIKoil's right on AvtoBank was confirmed by the Constitutional Court. He claimed also that at the outset of the transaction there were no suspections of any problems with the assets - the sellers submitted all necessary documents. According to Tsvetkov, as soon as NIKoil had learned that the deal could have been risky- not a single step was taken without the consent of the Antimonopoly Office and the Central Bank. "We bought the bank clean», said Nikolai Tsvetkov, « .... and should not suffer because of disagreements of the previous owners». Tsvetkov also said that NIKoil - bona fide purchaser of Avtobank.
Source "The Secret Companies» ? 39 (174) on 23.10.2006, ? 6 (141) on 13.02.2006, "Kommersant» # 73 (2676) dated 25.04.2003
Tsvetkov was mentioned in the press in connection with the composition of the Supervisory Board of Bank Uralsib scandal. In late 2003 the media reported that the seven out of the eleven directors in the new composition of Uralsib came from the structures of NIKoil. They wrote that in early November 2003, speaking at a press conference devoted to purchasing of 14% shares in Uralsib, Nikolai Tsvetkov as the head of NIKoil assured that his company owned the package. However, according to journalists, Tsvetkov fibbed a little: Property Ministry in Bashkiria sold 14% stake in Bank «Uralsib» on 29 October, while the registry of shareholders entitled to participate in the extraordinary meeting of the bank was closed on October 20. It turned out that NIKoil was not a shareholder of the bank at the moment of registry closure. And yet, as written in the press, the assembly approved the representatives of NIKoil in the Supervisory Board of Uralsib.
Source "Money» # 49 (454) on 15.12.2003
In late 2004, Tsvetkov again appeared in the press in connection with the Bank Uralsib scandal . There were reports that the forty percent of the shares of Uralsib, which was one of the largest banks in the country, were owned by ordinary individuals. It was reported that according to the report for the IV quarter of 2004 released by "UralSib", nearly 20% of the bank was owned by Moscow's "Detox", while another 18.5% - by Elistinian JSC «Topol». Thus, as reported in the press, the sole shareholder of ZAO "Detox" was a Muscovite Yevgeny Ryzhov, and ZAO "Poplar" shareholder was a Muscovite Tamara Tarakanova. That is, as the press was writing, Ryzhov and Tarakanova were the ultimate owners of shares which price exceeding $ 100 million at face value. Reportedly Tarakanova worked as deputy chief of the budgetary control in FC Uralsib. She admitted her involvement in the JSC "Poplar", but she was surprised to learn that she possessed 20 % shares of the bank "Uralsib", and proposed that this could have been an "interim solution". journalists failed to contact Ryzhov. But, as reported, one of the managers of FC Uralsib remembered that such person once came from IBG NIKoil to work in the Land agribusiness corporation ( "ZNAK"), which board had been headed by Nikolai Tsvetkov.
In the bank "Uralsib" they assured journalists that Ryzhov and Tarakanova got the shares not a long time , and they were "transit" owners. One of the experts whose opinions had been cited in the press assumed that using private individuals allowed the financial corporation NIKoil to conceal the real property owners at the time of UralSib shares consolidation from the market. Other analysts said that such a property structure could cause issues of the Central Bank and tax specialists. But, judging by the press data, nothing of the kind followed.
"Bulletin" from 29.11.2004
Nikolai Tsvetkov's name appeared in the press in late 2007. Site dp.ru reported that on the eve of New Year's holidays he was restricted to travel abroad. he was allegedly banned to cross the Russia's border by the Marshals Service in Moscow. It was reported that the billionaire did not fulfill the decision of the Odintsovo District Court of the Moscow region, as he did not demolish illegally built gates blocking the municipal road in the village Razdory in the Odintsovo district. According to the publication, police officers limited Tsvetkov's right to travel outside of Russia until March 25, 2008.
A week later an official statement by the press service FC "Uralsib" came. It was reported that there had been no claims against Tsvetkov by the marshals, and there had been no restrictions on leaving the country. The information published on dp.ru did not reflect the reality.
Source dp.ru on 20/12/2007, Компромат.ru 28/12/2007
President of URALSIB Financial Corporation Nikolay Tsvetkov established Glavkino Company for construction management of a picture television complex in the Moscow region worth about $ 300 million. The director Fyodor Bondarchuk and his partners have received about 30% of Glavkino, about the same amount is in pledge at the VTB bank, financing the project. Experts have suggested that it is rather development projects: partners will earn mostly on real estate around the studio, getting attention by the name of Bondarchuk.
Source: Kommersant, July 28, 2008
In 2010, in London, an agreement was signed for the sale of Kopeyka discounter chain of X5 Retail Group. As the result of the transaction, the owner of 100% of Kopeyka Nikolay Tsvetkov received approximately $ 1.13 billion (the total amount of the transaction was 51.5 billion rubles, the debt of Kopeyka - 16.5 billion rubles). In eight years, the value of the company grew by 10 times. Having sold Kopeyka, Tsvetkov not just successfully left the long-term investment project. He sold the business, which was not corresponded to his image of an apologist for a healthy lifestyle, a lover of cleanliness, order, and ecology.
Source: Forbes, December 7, 2010
In 2011, the Ambriz Trading Corporation company and Ilya Lobanov filed a lawsuit in the District Court for the Southern District of New York against OJSC Financial Corporation URALSIB, URALSIB Securities Ltd., URALSIB Capital, LLC (all three are URALSIB Group), and Malbourne Invest & Finance S.A., which is an absolute “daughter” of URALSIB Group. The plaintiffs accused the defendant of unethical dealing in the securities market, conspiracy, and fraudulent deception of customers and investors.
In 2005, the Ambriz Company and Lobanov (he was the General Director of the company) transferred funds in the URALSIB Group, which then invested them through Malbourne on different exchanges, including the U.S. marketplaces. However, in 2009 it became clear that Malbourne was falsifying reports on performed transaction, as it was stated in the lawsuit. In particular, the company reproduced a wrong time of the transactions, specifically - a time when the price of the shares on the stock exchange was higher (or lower) compared to the actual execution of the transaction.
The difference between the profit received from the transactions and the profit specified in the client's record was taken away by the broker. Thus Ambriz and Lobanov suffered losses of at least $ 3 million. It is noteworthy that at the time Lobanov not only led the Ambriz but also was vice-president of URALSIB. In the lawsuit, he claimed that after he had become aware of the illegal schemes, he gave an order to Malbourne on termination of the contract, demanding to withdraw funds to the account in the bank Credit Suisse. This was not done. Besides simultaneously Lobanov was fired.
After Malbourne had refused to return the money, Ambriz and Lobanov filed a lawsuit to the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, which took their side and demanded to return more than $ 3 million – direct clients’ money, as well as court costs in the amount of $ 246.9 thousand and € 140 thousand. Despite the decision of the court, the court costs were not paid. Then the plaintiffs appealed to the District Court for the Southern District of New York, which decided to arrest the defendants’ accounts in the bank JP Morgan Chase.
Ambriz and Lobanov required paying them a total of $ 13 million. According to the plaintiffs, the companies included in URALSIB Group, and Malbourne violated the U.S. Securities Exchange Act. Besides, having refused to return the client's funds, the company engaged in a fraudulent conspiracy and violated the law on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) laws, the plaintiffs said.
Source: Kommersant, July 15, 2011
The Forbes magazine estimates Nikolay Tsvetkov’s personal fortune at $ 3 billion. He ranks 32th in the list of 200 richest people of Russia of 2012.
Source: Russian Forbes, April, 19, 2012