Alisher Usmanov creates a new holding

The richest Russian businessman decided, together with his partners, to combine numerous assets. Analysts suggest that in this way entrepreneurs will be able to manage their companies more efficiently.

Alisher Usmanov, the richest entrepreneur in Russia according to Forbes magazine, will create a new holding. As the businessman said, he and his partners plan to combine all their assets.

Alisher Usmanov owns 90% of Gallagher Holdings, which owns 50% of Metalloinvest. Metalloinvest's main assets: Mikhailovsky and Lebedinsky mining and processing plants, Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant and Ural Steel Iron and Steel Works. The company also has a minority stake in Norilsk Nickel.

Through AF Telecom, Usmanov owns a 31% stake in the mobile operator MegaFon. Through the DST investment fund - shares in Facebook, Groupon, Zynga. The businessman’s company, New Media and Technology Investment, is the largest beneficiary of the Mail.ru Group. Usmanov also owns the Kommersant publishing house and a share in the UTV media holding. Red & White Holdings, owned on a parity basis by Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri, controls almost 30% of the shares of the British football club Arsenal. Forbes magazine estimates Usmanov's fortune at $18 billion.

According to preliminary data, the distribution of shares in the new structure of USM Holding will be as follows: 50% for Usmanov, 30% for Andrey Skoch’s fund, and 10% for Farhad Moshiri. Another 10% is reserved for management. According to Investcafe analyst Ilya Rachenkov, the purpose of consolidation is more efficient asset management.

“Recently, speculation about a possible initial placement of Megafon has sharply increased; it is believed that Usmanov could become the controlling shareholder of the company, he will have a powerful asset in addition to Metalloinvest and its investments in Internet companies. Perhaps Usmanov and his partners came up with the idea to collect these assets into some kind of single club, so that there is a certain synergy between them. The idea is that together the most likely option would be that there would be some kind of closed non-trading holding, but the companies included in this holding could be traded. stock exchange," he says.

The day before, Forbes magazine published a ranking of the richest entrepreneurs in Russia, in which Alisher Usmanov took first place.

“The point is that together it’s easier”