Biography
Yuri Antipov was born in 1954. His surname is reflected in the second half of a well-know Chelyabinsk brand name, Ariant, that has come out on the federal level. The first half is the first three letters of the name of another businessman, Aleksandr Aristov, a co-founder and a co-owner of the group of commercial and industrial companies. Aristov is known to be “the legend of Chelyabinsk business”. Antipov, on the other hand, is not a public figure and is not familiar with most of the business community. The little information one can find about him is that he owns a manually assembled German car, the most expensive in the region (about 800,000 euro) and that he has three sons, all of whom were educated abroad and married foreign citizens.
Antipov’s role in Ariant is that of an “excessively thorough expert”. The two businessmen set out in 1980, when they established a meet processing plant. Since then they have been equal in business as, according to experts, they have equal shares in the company and are a rare example of mutual understanding. Even their positions in annul rankings of Russian billionaires are next to each other.
In Ariant holding Yuri Antipov, Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Combine JSC board of directors chairman, is also in charge of agricultural projects.
Source: Expert-Ural
Dossier
Lawsuits relating to Aglomeratchik and the seizure from it of Zlatoust agglomeration plant (ZAF), lasted from 2003. The Sverdlovsk company first faced troubles after it chose the leadership of Chelyabinsk Electric Factory (CHEMK), represented by Aleksandr Aristov and Yuri Antipov, as its investor and business partner. In summer 2003 at the request of the head of Yamal Mining Company (the owner of Kongor-Chrome shares), Gennady Tolmachev was looking for investors to increase the production of chromium and had a business meeting with the owners of CHEMK, Serov Ferroalloy Plant, and the International Union of Metallurgists. As a result, Kongor-Chrome shares were sold to CHEMK with a provision in the agreement requiring it to build a processing plant near the deposits of chrome ore in the village of Kharp in Yamal-Nenets region.
In October 2003, Zheldormet LLC and Yamal Metallurgical Combine established Aglomeratchik LLC and transferred into its ownership the production capacities of Zlatoust agglomeration plant. At that time, the plant was idle and was in poor condition. Aglomeratchik restored production capacity of the manganese sinter, had gas pipelines laid, and paid out debts to power companies. However, the company did not benefit from the work it had done. Once it sent a startup notice to the Ministry of Industry in Yuzhnouralsk, in July 2004 employees of the private security agency CHEMK-security came to the premises.
Legal proceedings initiated by the structures close to CHEMK were still in progress when bailiffs seized the property, equipment, and most of the documentation in the plant. Subsequently, in 2005, the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation ruled that the bailiff acted unlawfully in passing the property to CHEMK-security deputy director Igor Vishnyakov in July 2004. According to an Aglomeratchik owners’ representative, it was not only Chelyabinsk oligarchs who were behind the raider takeover, but also the bailiffs, and regional and local officials cleverly lobbying the interests of CHEMK. This explains the inaction of prosecutors and law enforcement officials who repeatedly refused to take action to return the property to the owner, despite the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation ruling that recognized the seizure unlawful.
In 2008, the South Urals court finally ruled something that gave a new twist to this sensational case. Aglomeratchik was reinstated in the Unified State Register as the owner of the seized property. Thus, after years of litigations between Sverdlovsk metallurgical company and Chelyabinsk raiders, the situation was solved and the property returned. The events are unique since despite the merged interests of oligarchs and regional officials, the court ruled in favour of the rightful owner of the enterprise.
Source: Case No. 001, 07 July 2008
In May 2008 walls of the houses in Kalinin district of Chelyabinsk were plastered with ads urging people to take part in a demonstration against the activities of CHEMK producing industrial wastes. The authors of the leaflets called up on residents of the area close to Chelyabinsk Electric Factory to require the owners of the company to pay out a compensation for damage caused to people’s health. ” For years we have lived on land generously “fertilized” with industrial waste. The air we breathe is poisoned with anhydrides, formaldehyde, and other toxins. Our children get sick several times that of their peers from ecologically safe areas. Many residents develop cancer, dozens have died”, the statement says. The authors argued that the law compels the firm to pay compensations to the inhabitants of the land that is subject to pollution by the company. “Instead its executives who earn millions at the expense of our health hide the truth from the public”, they say in the add.
Source: Novy Region, 8 May 2011
In 2007, Chelyabinsk Tractor hockey club board of trustees approved the appointment of a new head coach to replace Gennady Tsygurov who chose not to renew the contract with the club. The new head coach was a Chelyabinsk businessman Andrei Nazarov. He played in the National Hockey League for 13 years among the most promising Russian players and he gained there the status of an elite hockey player. Upon returning from the U.S., Nazarov continued to be engaged in business and in hockey, becoming the general manager of Tractor. Andrei Nazarov is a close relative of a major Chelyabinsk entrepreneur and City Duma deputy Yuri Antipov.
Source: URA.Ru, 6 April 2007
The current composition of Ariant shareholders formed in mid-2007 when Yuri Antipov and Aleksandr Aristov bought their shares from Natalia Burdyak, Oleg Bersenev, and Elena Sachko. Officially, the beneficiaries of a 99.72% stake in the company are the wife of Aleksandr Aristov, his daughter Elena Kretova, Yuri Antipov and his wife Lyudmila.
Source: Slon.ru
In 2011, the wife of an Ariant owner Yuri Antipov sued out the abolition of an increase of her husband’s share in the authorized capital of Perant LLC, which owns 49% of CHEMK. She filed the lawsuit demanding to annul the decision of the increase of his share in the authorized capital of Perant and the invalidation of the changes in the legal entity in December 2010. On 7 February the court completely satisfied the claim by Ludmila Antipova. “Earlier Yuri Antipov significantly increased his Perant stake. And this was what was challenged in court”, said Sergey Povalyaev, head of the Secretariat to the Chairman of Chelyabinsk region Arbitration Court.
According to unofficial data, there is no conflict between the spouses. They needed the court ruling to introduce official changes to the documents.
Source: Chelyabinsk.ru, 7 February 2011