reorganization

Alfa Group yesterday announced the merger of its asset management and private equity businesses. Management companies Alfa Capital and Alfa Capital Partners will be united under the Alfa Asset Management (AAM) brand. At the same time, there was a change in leadership. Alfa Capital will be headed by Mikhail Khabarov, and strategic management, instead of the American Bernard Sucher, will be carried out by a member of the board of directors of Alfa Bank, Andrei Kosogov.

As Alfa Group reported yesterday, the board of directors of Alfa Finance Holding (the group's main shareholder) decided to merge the businesses of the management company Alfa Capital and the direct investment company Alfa Capital Partners. Andrey Kosogov, a member of the board of directors and shareholder of Alfa Bank, became the head of the board of directors of the new holding. The main reason for the restructuring at Alfa is said to be the desire to simplify the business management system and intensify efforts to raise funds. According to Mr. Kosogov, all positions “with unclear titles such as chief managing director will be abolished,” and the leadership of Alfa Capital will be concentrated exclusively with the new general director.

From September 1, this position will be taken by Mikhail Khabarov, who previously headed the AllianceRosno Asset Management Management Company. “My mission at Alliance was completed, the company got back on its feet and found its niche. And when the question arose whether to renew the contract or agree to Alpha’s offer, I chose the second option,” said Mr. Khabarov. Alexey Tukhkur was appointed acting general director of Alliance. But, as a source in the company told Kommersant, most likely, in the near future the board of directors of Alliance will select another candidate for this post.

At the same time, Alfa took advantage of the reorganization to abolish the position of chairman of the board of directors of Alfa Capital, which was held by Bernard Sucher. Officially, the company says that he has been invited to join the board of directors of AAM, but market participants believe that he is unlikely to remain at Alpha. Bernard Sucher confirmed to Kommersant the fact of negotiations on joining the board of directors of AAM, but said that he had not yet made a final decision. At the same time, he noted that “for the last three years, Alfa Capital has been operating under conditions of insufficient funding.” Therefore, according to him, “the decision to attract additional financial and human resources for the development of the company is quite logical.”

However, market participants say that the real reason for the actual dismissal of Mr. Sucher is that he did not live up to expectations in attracting foreign clients. In particular, the sensational project to create a joint fund with the American investment group Carlayle was never implemented. According to market participants, this happened partly due to the fact that Mr. Sucher was closer to the brokerage business than the asset management business.

ALEXEY J-LAMPSI

Alfa Capital changes management