Biography:
Born March 9, 1962 in Mikun, Ust-Vym district of the Komi ASSR.
Education: Plekhanov Leningrad Mining Institute, Degree in Applied Geodesy (1987); St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance with Specialty in Finance and Credit (1997). In 1999 he had an internship on the U.S. program "Construction and management of port facilities”. He held Ph.D. in Economics with a degree in Management in Economy.
From 1983 to 1990 VS Izrailit grew from an ordinary worker in several industrial and construction companies to senior engineer at one of the largest studios in Leningrad. Since the early 90's he has been a consultant in international marketing holding management positions in several large commercial structures in the North-West Russia. Under his leadership, large-scale investment projects have been implemented.
Since 1999, V.S. Izrailit - Managing Director, since 2005 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of OAO Ust-Luga Company, the largest developer of Sea Commercial Port of Ust-Luga.
Valery Izrailit is one of the founders of the concept of omajor public projects management with the involvement of private investors. Currently, the development project of a port in Ust-Luga is realized on the basis of public-private partnership, drawing on international experience and international business standards.
In the opinion of the Expert Council of Award "Top 100", Izrailit V.S. was recognized as the best manager in 2008. He was also awarded a medal "Silver Cross of St. George of the Union", and the Order of Honour and Valour for service to the Russian people. Izrailit was awarded a commendation by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and the Governor of theLeningrad region and the award "Russian National Olympus".
Married; has three children.
Source: www.ust-luga.ru
Dossier:
The name of Izrailit has been most frequently mentioned in the press in connection with the sea port in Ust-Luga. Once in 2000, President of Russia instructed to finance the construction of the port at the federal level, his business developed successfully. Construction of the port caused a decrease in cost of goods imported earlier through the Baltics. According to Izrailit, when the construction began an intensive lobbying of its suspension appeared by those countries. The port's closeness to authority provided as follows: since 1999, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company "Ust-Luga" was Vladimir Yakunin, later he became Deputy Transportation Minister and President of RAO Russian Railways.
Source: "Business Petersburg" № 27 (903) from 16.02.2001
However, later the businesses of Izrailit did not develop that successfully. In February 2002, Minister of Railways Gennady Fadeev visited the port. He looked at the project of rail entrances to the port, and concluded that it had not been worked out, and the beginning of work was untimely. He also highlighted the fact that the state was going to help only its own enterprises, and its membership was to be thoroughly checked (the port was controlled by three offshore and OAO "United Finance Company”; only a coal terminal port belonged to the state; but despite this Izrailit said to the minister, that the port was in a public property). Fadeev also noted that the state was supposed to spend money to upgrade the existing funds, while the project of roads to the port was very expensive, and required submission of well-designed business plan.
Source: dp.ru from 19.02.2002
Originally, the government of the Leningrad region was going to go on an unprecedented step and become a guarantor for a loan for construction of the container terminal in Ust-Luga which did not even exist. However, the deputies of the Regional Legislative Assembly considered the idea to be questionable, and the reasons for granting a loan to be insufficient.
Source: "Kommersant-SPB" № 89 (2928) on 20.05.2004
Izrailit responded calmly to the refusal of Administration of the Leningrad region to act as security for a loan. They said, the company had enough of resources. At the same time, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade Minister Gherman Gref promised to bring to life the idea of creating a port of free trade zone. However, the budget for financing dredging works in the port still lacked money; a large debt to the company appeared, and by 2005, public funding was going to be reduced even more.
Source: "Business Petersburg" № 126 (1712) on 13.07.2004
Gref spoke about the possibility of creating the SEZ with the governor of the Leningrad region Valery Serdyukov. Such a zone in Kingiseppsky area was needed due to problems of the port of Ust-Luga mainly, which scared off potential investors. The deployment of the terminals of the company “Eurochem" in the mouth area of Luga developed typically - the company preferred another territory, despite the land had been provided. In 2005, President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing to create SEZ in Russia.
Source: "Business Petersburg" № 134 (1966) on 26.07.2005
That same year it became known suddenly of the purchasing of a big stake in the Bank of St. Petersburg by Sergey Matvienko – a son of the Governor Valentina Matvienko. Izrailit originally planned to purchase this package. Behind the deal there was a city authorities plan to make the bank municipal. Izrailit was likely to be able to prevent it. Anonymous sources told the press that Sergey Matvienko could not possess enough money to buy shares, and for this purpose he took a loan from the bank VTB. Thus there were reasons to believe the deterioration of relations between Izrailit and the immediate environment of the governor of St.Petersburg.
Source: "Kommersant" № 166 (3250) on 06.09.2005
In 2006, Ust-Luga Company announced its intention to build a terminal for transshipment of imported cars in Russia. At the same time, a group of private investors planned to build a terminal for the import of foreign cars only 20 kilometers away in Vistino. Vistin investors tried to get ahead of Ust-Luga project, a competition appeared among them.
Source: "Kommersant-SPB" № 55 (3386) on 30.03.2006
In 2007 Izrailit announced plans to build a wooden panelling factory for single-store houses in the Kingisepp area and a cement plant in the Slantsy area. Those companies were necessary for the construction of settlements in the port of Ust-Luga - half of its residents had to move into one-store houses. Izrailit did not exclude implementation of other orders also. At the same time, Igor Podlipentsev, President of OAO “Sevzapmoloko" said that "Ust-Luga Company” and the security agency "Argus" claimed the land of its agricultural enterprise "Rastsvet" in the Priozersk area. Izrailit said his company had no relation to the attempted seizure of the land, but Podlipentsev still did not go back on his word.
Source: "Business Petersburg" № 12 (2334) on 26.01.2007
In January 2007 the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region was filed two claims of minority shareholders of ZAO "Breeding Plant "Rastsvet"- Ludmila Yurieva and Vitaly Kozharsky. They claimed they had suffered during the privatization of the agricultural enterprise in 1994 and during the additional issue of shares in 2005, and encouraged to recognize both transactions illegal.
ZAO "Breeding Plant "Rastsvet" has 1,6 hectares of land in the area of Priozersk in the Leningrad region. Th security company "Argus" made the partition of hundreds of hectares, they were seized. According to Podlipentsev, he was aware of their intention to acquire those lands for cottage construction, and minority shareholders Yuriev and Kozharskogo had been used to their advantage. "The Company "Ust-Luga” planned to build the cottage community, but not in the Priozersk area. It is a quite difficult to follow the logic assumptions of Podlipentsev about the intentions of Izrailit. Journalists supposed that by that time near “Rastsvet” there had appeared a Ski Resort "Igora" and a cottage cooperative "Lake" where Vladimir Putin had rested. The press wrote that Podlipentsev as a businessman suffered difficulties to tell the line between the national projects and the interests of the president's friends. The head of OAO "RZhD" Yakunin was present at the opening of "Igora" related to the “Company "Ust-Luga”, then he suggested that Izrailit might have had an interest in his land also.
Source: www.apn-spb.ru on 2.07.2007
In 2007, the leadership of the "Company" Ust-Luga' had some changes - CEO of the company Igor Rusu left his post on his own accord in order to begin realization of projects by his own. He was replaced by former technical director Yuri Pognaev. Some market participants believed that Rusu had good reasons for resignation. The company was successfully developing under Rusu as he attracted investments, which had to be mastered. But all the decisions in the company were taken by the board of directors and signed by Director General. Analysts assumed that it had concerned Rusu as an experienced manager.
Source: "Kommersant-SPB" № 149 (3725) on 21.08.2007
In 2008 the struggle between Izrailit and oligarch Vladimir Lisin for OAO "Universal Transshipment Complex” (UTC) began. They both owned a 50% stake in the company. In connection with the change of ownership (the new director general of the UTC was appointed Sergei Chelyadin) they were to elect a new board of directors of the company. Originally the shareholders meeting had been scheduled for March 28, 2008.
However, the Company "Ust-Luga” initiated the meeting earlier - on February, 20. OAO "Sea Port of St. Petersburg", controlled by Lisin, issued a press release stating that the meeting had been held without a legitimate reason on the initiative of the “Company "Ust-Luga", and it addressed the issue of terminating the powers of the board of directors. “Ust-Luga" itself denied the information about illegality of the meeting. The company UCL announced it illegal, and organized another meeting. In its turn, “Ust-Luga” filed a lawsuit demanding to cancel the meeting convened by the UCL.
Source: "Kommersant" № 92 (3909) on 30.05.2008
Later some experts expressed their opinion that thus Izrailit tried to put in order the documents associated with all sorts of liabilities that he had undertaken to Lisin and the third-party companies.
Source: "Kommersant-SPB" № 30 / B (3847) on 26.02.2008.
Meanwhile, the regional deputies slowed down the project of "Ust-Luga" on construction of a village for workers. According to the documents delivered,the residents of villages (on which territory the construction was to be carried out) gave their consent. However, it turned out that most residents were not informed. The deputies considered the project as the company's interests lobbying, as there were no documents proving any negotiations about a unit out all the land owners, inter alia.
Source: "Business Petersburg" № 57 (2623) on 01.04.2008
The conflict between Izrailit and Lisin ended with the fact the company UCL Holdings, managing port actives of Lisin, bought 100% shares of the UTC, which in its turn was the owner of a built port terminal in Ust-Luga. Regarding the conflict about the meeting, Izrailit commented that in reality the procedures had been perceived wrongly, and negotiations had fixed the problem. However, experts also considered the conflict to be not serious, and the reason of the conflict turned out to be the documents formed badly and technical complexity.
Source: "Kommersant" № 92 (3909) on 30.05.2008
In summer 2008, the conflict between Izrailit om and Lisin came to a final point, as the Company "Ust-Luga" withdrew the shareholders of the UTC
Source: "Business Petersburg" № 98 (2664) on 02.06.2008
The Company UCL Holding, controlled by Lisin, then consolidated 100% of the shares of the UTC. Izrailit said that he decided to withdraw the projects in which the company "Ust-Luga" had no controlling stake.
Source: "Business Petersburg" № 162 (2728) on 01.09.2008
In February 2009 the media reported on intentions of the Government of the Leningrad region to sell its stake in the “Company Ust-Luga” in order to recover those means spent on it. Another option considered was its donation to the federal authorities. In addition, perhaps the sale of shares was profitable for the government because Valery Izrailit declared his plans to hold a large-scale additional issue at 2 billion rubles in the company. Experts believed that the Government of Leningrad region was most likely unable to participate in it as it could not afford it.
Source: "Business Petersburg" № 17 (2829) on 03.02.2009
In February 2010 Izrailit was named a possible contender for the Senate seat from the Leningrad region, after Gregory Naginsky had resigned from the post. As for Izrailit, he did not comment on that possibility.
Source: "Business Petersburg" № 23 (3081) on 18/02/2010