Mikhail Prokhorov

Mikhail Prokhorov
Born	Mikhail Dmitrievitch Prokhorov 3 May 1965 (1965-05-03) (age 46) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Residence	Moscow, Russia
Citizenship	Russia
Alma mater	Moscow Finance Institute
Occupation	Businessman, investments
Known for	owner of the New Jersey Nets
Net worth	$18 billion (2011)
Height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)

Mikhail Dmitrievitch Prokhorov (Russian: Михаил Дмитриевич Прóхоров; born 3 May 1965) is a Russian billionaire oligarch and owner of the American basketball team, the New Jersey Nets. After graduating from the Moscow Finance Institute he made his name in the financial sector and went on to become one of Russia's leading industrialists in the precious metals sector. While he was running Norilsk Nickel, the company became the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium. He is the former chairman of Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, and former President of ONEXIM Group. He resigned both positions when he entered politics in June, 2011.

In December, 2011, Prokhorov capped a year of higher-profile political activity in Russia with the December declaration that he would run as an independent in the 2012 presidential elections. Russian prime minister and former president Vladimir Putin was the favorite in the race at the time of Prokhorov's announcement.

He is the third richest man from Russia and the 32nd richest man in the world according to the 2011 Forbes listing with a fortune estimated at $18 billion.

Family

Prokhorov was born in Moscow, the son of Tamara and Dmitri Prokhorov. He has one sibling, an elder sister, Irina. His maternal grandmother, Anna Belkina, was a prominent microbiologist who during the war stayed in Moscow to make vaccines while Tamara was moved east to safety. Prokhorov's father's parents were relatively wealthy kulaks but "his father lost everything and was forced to flee from one part of Siberia and restart life in another". Dmitri was the head of the international department of the Soviet Sports Committee, which gave him the rare privilege of traveling abroad. Tamara worked as an engineer for a university research group specializing in plastics. They died within a year of each other from heart disease when they were in their late 50s and Prokhorov was in his early 20s.

Career

Early years

In 1989, he graduated with honors from the Finance University under the Government of the Russian Federation, known at the time as the Moscow Finance Institute. From 1989 to 1992, Prokhorov worked in a management position at the International Bank for Economic Cooperation, and afterwards shortly served as head of Management Board of the International Finance Company (MFK).

In 1993, aged 28, he became wealthy, aided by warm ties with the government of President Boris N. Yeltsin. During the largely un-regulated privatization of former state-controlled industries after the collapse of the USSR, Prokhorov (together with Vladimir Potanin, a deputy prime minister who oversaw privatization) engineered the acquisition of Norilsk Nickel by Uneximbank in 1995, of which he was then chairman of the board.

Norilsk Nickel

Mikhail Prokhorov (Right-center)

Mikhail Prokhorov (Center)

After selling off most of Norilsk's non-mining assets, Prokhorov moved to modernize a complicated, expensive business venture which required icebreakers to transport metal over the frozen Arctic region. Prokhorov invested in an innovative Finnish freighter that did not require icebreakers. Norilsk Nickel is headquartered in the Siberian city of the same name. Environmental and labor conditions are harsh there, and pollution remains a problem; Prokhorov has invested heavily in pollution control. He converted Norilsk Nickel's gold-mining interests into the $8.5 billion corporation Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer. In 2003, Prokhorov oversaw the acquisition of Stillwater Mining, his first international venture.^{[citation needed]}

Prokhorov resigned as Norilsk CEO in February 2007 and declared his intention to separate his assets from those of long-time partner Vladimir Potanin. The two engaged in protracted negotiations to separate the conglomerate Interros, co-owned by the two, into separate holdings.

ONEXIM Group

In May 2007, following the decision to exit Interros, Prokhorov launched the private investment fund ONEXIM Group, with assets valued at $17 billion at the time. As the de-merger from Interros proceeded, and as other industries caught Prokhorov's attention, the group rapidly changed its investment profile. In April 2008, Prokhorov sold his most valuable asset - a 25% plus two shares stake in Norilsk Nickel - to United Company RUSAL, another mining conglomerate controlled by fellow billionaire Oleg Deripaska, in exchange for some 14% of Rusal stock, about $5 billion in cash and an obligation to pay over $2 billion more. The deal has been singled out as a major success for Prokhorov as only three months later, following a dip in oil prices, a disastrous stock market crash halved the value of most Russian companies, including Norilsk. He emerged as one of the very few businessmen to have cashed out in time. However, his wealth has also been affected, as the value of his remaining interests in various companies (including Rusal and Open Investments) declined sharply, and as the remaining payment from Rusal had to be postponed. It has since been fully paid.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2008, ONEXIM Group acquired 50% of Renaissance Capital, a major Russian investment bank which has reportedly encountered liquidity problems. ONEXIM also purchased a small bank, renaming it IFC (for the bank which Prokhorov had run in the early 1990s).

One of ONEXIM Group's divisions focuses on the development of nanotechnology investing in high-technology projects such as white LEDs. One of the key areas of development is the production of materials with ultra–tiny structures used in energy generation and medicine. In that purpose in 2008 ONEXIM purchased Optogan.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2007, then-Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov announced the formation of the Government Council for Nanotechnology, to oversee the development of nanotechnology in the country. Prokhorov was one of 15 individuals appointed to the council, which was to be chaired by then-First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.

A high-profile media venture is JV!, a media group led by the publisher of Kommersant, Vladimir Yakovlev; the group publishes, among other things, such magazines targeted at the wealthy as Snob and Russian Pioneer.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2009, the shareholders of RBC Information Systems agreed with ONEXIM Group of Mikhail Prokhorov to sell the latest issue of the additional 51% stake for $80 million, half of which went to pay off debts. The deal was closed in 2010. Prokhorov has business interests in mining and metallurgy (Polyus Gold, Intergeo, stake in Rusal), financial services (IFC-Bank, Soglassye insurance company, half of Renaissance Capital), utilities (stake in Quadra), nanotech, media (JV!) and real estate development (Open Investments).^{[citation needed]}

Sports and patronage

In March 2004 he founded the Cultural Initiatives Foundation (as part of the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation). It is headed by Prokhorov's elder sister, Irina, a prominent Russian publisher. At one time, he financially supported CSKA Moscow's basketball, hockey and football clubs, and is a member of the Supreme Council of the Sport Russia organization.^{[citation needed]} Prokhorov currently serves as president of the Russian Biathlon Union. He is also an avid freeride/freestyle jet skier. He performs tricks on a stand up jet ski. In a 60 minute interview he stated that a backflip is his hardest trick.

In September 2009 he made an offer to buy a controlling interest in the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association and half of a project to build a new arena in Brooklyn. On 11 May 2010, the NBA approved the sale of the Nets to Prokhorov, making him majority owner of the team with an 80% stake, as well as a 45% interest in their new Barclays Center. He thus became the first non-North American and tallest (he stands 6'8") NBA owner. In December, 2011, after announcing his run for the Russian presidency, the NBA confirmed that Prokhorov's ownership interest would not need to be altered in the event of his election. (Sitting U.S. Senator Herb Kohl owns the Milwaukee Bucks.)

A martial arts enthusiast, Prokhorov is, as of 2011, an Ambassador for Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization, committed to serving peace in the world through sport.

Controversies

At a Christmas party for the Russian rich at the French Alpine resort of Courchevel in January 2007, he was arrested for allegedly arranging prostitutes for his guests. After four days he was released without charge. In September 2009, Prokhorov was officially cleared from this charge and the judicial case was dismissed. According to his blog, he even received apologies from French officials during his visit to France in November 2009.

Prokhorov made headlines in early March 2010 when he was forced to forfeit a £36 million deposit he placed on the £360 million Villa Leopolda in the French Riviera in 2008. Under French property law, once an initial sale contract has been signed, a deposit can only be refunded during a seven day cooling-off period. On 2 March 2010, a court in Nice, France ruled that the villa's owner, 71-year-old Lily Safra, widow of deceased billionaire banker Edmond Safra, could keep the £36 million deposit, plus £1 million in interest.

Regarding Prokhorov's political efforts and the Right Cause party, critical commentators claim that the entire endeavor is just a project of the Kremlin closely curated by Vladislav Surkov and that Prokorov was effectively appointed a party leader. According to them, the "puppet party" was designed to divert opposition voters by using liberal rhetoric.

Awards

In August 2006 he was awarded the Order of Friendship for his significant contribution to the growth of Russia’s economic potential, when the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, signed an order for the granting of state honours on 18 August 2006. In March 2011 he was bestowed with the French Legion of Honour. France's ambassador to Moscow, Jean de Gliniastrance, presented it at the French embassy in Moscow.^{[citation needed]}

Russian politics

In May, 2011, Prokhorov announced a plan to join the leadership of the Russian pro-business political party Right Cause. While not antagonistic to the Kremlin, the party was seen as likely to support President Dmitry Medvedev rather than Prime Minister Vladimir Putin if the latter entered the 2012 presidential race. In June, Prokhorov was elected to the leadership of the party at the Right Cause Party Congress of 2011. At the acceptance ceremony, Prokhorov officially criticized the present ruling tandem of Medvedev-Putin, the structure of Russia, and vowed to bring Russia back to a stable development course. However, in September, Prokhorov reversed course and resigned from Right Cause, "condemning it as a 'puppet Kremlin party' micromanaged by a 'puppet master' in the president’s office ..., Vladislav Y. Surkov".

In December 2011, after the legislative elections, Prokhorov announced that he would contest the 2012 presidential election against Vladimir Putin as an independent. Prokhorov called it at the time "probably the most important decision of my life."

See also

• List of billionaires
• Ё-mobile

External links

• Article about his January 12, 2007 arrest
• 2007 Kommersant article about Prokhorov standing down as Norilsk CEO
• "Mikhail Prokhorov: The Russian Is Coming", 60 Minutes, CBS-TV, March 28, 2010