–
“It’s a little disturbing that this is ultimately a huge gift to one of the richest oligarchs in the country,” analysts said after Société Générale bank decided to sell its Russian branch to Vladimir Potanin, Russia’s richest man.
–
With Vladimir Potanin, Société Général has not brought in the first best as its new CEO. The French bank announced on Monday to withdraw from Russia and sells its important Russian subsidiary Rosbank to Interros. Interros is the investment vehicle of Potanin, Russia’s richest man, who made a fortune with the nickel giant Nornickel.
–
“It’s a little disturbing that this is ultimately a huge gift to one of the wealthiest oligarchs in the country,” analysts said. The 61-year-old Potanin is not undisputed. With a net worth of nearly $29 billion, Potanin is the richest man in Russia. He reached that position through decades of close contacts with the Russian power apparatus.
–
–
liberalization
He acquired 35 percent of Nornickel’s shares during the controversial liberalization of the Russian economy in the 1990s. The company, which emerged in 1935 from the gulags under the Stalin regime, faltered after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Potanin, a former deputy prime minister under Putin’s predecessor Boris Yeltsin, is seen as one of the driving forces behind that wave of privatization.
–
Potanin made the company profitable again by laying off staff and transferring expensive social services to the government. In 2004, the company was again worth $11.7 billion. Meanwhile, Nornickel accounts for about 40 percent of the world’s production of palladium and 10 percent of that of refined nickel – a position of power that makes the company ‘too big to boycott’† Potanin also owns part of the Russian company Petrovax Pharm.
–