How Akhmetov, Kolomoisky, Poroshenko, Pinchuk and CO are getting poorer

There is a constant struggle in Ukraine. But let's put the hostilities aside for a while and remember the period when we fought either against covid or for freedom of speech. It was a great time, right? And we also fought the oligarchs, the name of all this was deoligarchization.

Today the moment has come when there will really be no oligarchs in Ukraine.

The richest Ukrainians are suffering huge losses because of the war. The largest metallurgical plants have been destroyed, areas with solar panels have been seized, hundreds of thousands of hectares of agricultural land have ended up in frontline areas. And those whom the war bypassed, "caught up" with the justice system. 

Let's think about the "poor" oligarchs or about which of the magnates lost more than others, and who remained with their own at all. 

Oligarchs of Ukraine during the war

Last week, the National Security and Defense Council approved the "Regulations on the register of oligarchs", and President Volodymyr Zelensky put it into effect.

The head of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, Alexander Novikov, said that the creation of a register of oligarchs is an irrelevant thing. Allegedly, the formation of editorial policy on TV channels was considered one of the main levers of influence of the oligarchs on politics. During the war, most TV channels operate in the mode of a general telethon, and their information policy is unlikely to change in the near future. In addition, most oligarchs suffer huge losses.

The richest have suffered the most from Russia's invasion of Ukraine Ukrainian Rinat Akhmetov.

According to Bloomberg Billionaires, Akhmetov has lost about $4 billion 300 million since the start of the war. If at the beginning of February his fortune was estimated at more than 11 billion dollars, then as of the beginning of July it does not reach 8 billion dollars.

But this is just an estimate. Whereas in the capitalization of enterprises, the oligarch lost much more. The richest man in Ukraine owns System Capital Management - a company that manages the country's largest industrial conglomerate.

The company invests in metallurgy, mining and energy. It owns the energy company DTEK and controls a 71,2% stake in Metinvest, the country's largest steel producer. At the moment, the group's largest assets are either in temporarily uncontrolled territory or in close proximity to the war zone.

Enterprises such as Azovstal, Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, Avdiyivka Koksokhim, Luhansk TPP and dozens of other industrial infrastructure and green energy facilities from SCM's investment portfolio have been partially or completely destroyed or forced to be decommissioned.

“The capitalization of these facilities by the beginning of the war amounted to tens of billions of dollars. In addition, there were raw materials and finished products worth $1 billion.”

Rinat Akhmetov himself spoke about this in one of his interviews to the Italian TV channel.

In terms of replacement cost, the group estimates that Ilyich Iron and Steel Works and Azovstal lost between $17 billion and $20 billion due to the full-scale war.

It is also worth adding lost profits due to the stoppage or reduction in production volumes of enterprises that are located in the territory controlled by Ukraine, and these are also colossal numbers.

Now Akhmetov's companies are developing foreign business. Outside of Ukraine, Metinvest already owns two plants in Italy, a plant in Bulgaria, a plant in the UK, coal mines in the US, and a trading company.

But even here things are not so smooth for the businessman, because the same plant in Italy was based on the supply of slabs from Azovstal, and on the spot it was already manufacturing the final product. Here is such a story.

Vadim Novinsky is no longer a people's deputy

Everything is not easy for Akhmetov's partner in Metinvest Vadim Novinsky. Who, by the way, recently resigned his deputy powers and is no longer a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

So, in addition to the assets of Metinvest, which he owns by 23,76%, Novinsky and Akhmetov also own the HarvEast agricultural holding.

At the moment, 70% of the agricultural holding's land bank - 90 hectares out of 127 - are located in the now uncontrolled territories of Ukraine.

Also now, part of the HarvEast equipment is under the control of the Russian troops.

Another asset of Novinsky is the network of the Amstor shopping and entertainment center, which was located mainly in eastern cities, is also almost completely destroyed or is located in uncontrolled territory.

Smart Urban Solutions previously reported that the buildings of shopping centers in Mariupol and Severodonetsk, where large-scale battles took place, were also almost completely destroyed. The company temporarily does not control the operation of shopping centers in Melitopol and Berdyansk. And recently, a rocket completely destroyed the Amstor shopping center in Kremenchug.

Consulting company director UTG Evgenia Loktionova stated that the estimated cost of one mall in Kramatorsk is about $15-20 million. So Novinsky's situation is far from rosy, and his wallet is much slimmer. Move on.

For a long time we did not remember Igor Kolomoisky. In the context of our conversation today, it's time.

Losses of Igor Kolomoisky during the war

The American edition of Forbes estimates the total losses due to the war of the conditional Privat group at $225 million.

The oil sector, which includes part of the semi-state company Ukrnafta, the largest oil refinery in Ukraine, the Kremenchug Oil Refinery, the Neftekhimik Prykarpattya plant, the Drogobych Oil Refinery and a network of filling stations, received the biggest blow.

They have different levels of damage. However, one of the tidbits of Kolomoisky’s investment portfolio is the Kremenchug Oil Refinery, which came under Russian rocket attacks in April and will definitely not resume operations until the end of the year.

However, even during the war, companies in which Kolomoisky is a beneficiary fall into scandals related to fraudulent purchases of gas.

At the beginning of last month in State Bureau of Investigation reported that the court seized more than 14 tons of liquefied gas, which, according to investigators, a number of Kolomoisky’s orbit companies bought from Ukrnafta at a clearly underpriced price.

Ukrtatnafta, whose only asset is the Kremenchug Oil Refinery, is divided between offshore companies of Igor Kolomoisky and Alexander Yaroslavsky. Another 43,05% of the shares are owned by the state through Naftogaz Ukrainy. And now let's talk about Yaroslavsky.

Kharkiv oligarch Alexander Yaroslavsky, in addition to its share in the destroyed Kremenchug Oil Refinery, also received losses after the shelling of the Kharkov Tractor Plant. The cost of the plant's assets is estimated at $41 million. But it is difficult to name the exact amount of damage now. In addition, the DCH group of Yaroslavsky owns Kharkiv airport, which is the third airport in Ukraine in terms of passenger traffic.

In mid-May, Russian troops launched a missile attack on the airport. How much damage was caused to the infrastructure remains to be calculated. Nevertheless, it is known that the businessman's investments in the airport, including the construction of a new air terminal complex and the reconstruction of the old one, amounted to over $107 million.

Dmitry Firtash. Losses during the war in Ukraine

He liked it too. As a result of the war, he lost one of the largest chemical plants in the country - Severodonetsk "Azot" worth $ 162 million. As a result of shelling, the enterprise was destroyed by 70%. At least two shops of the chemical plant were damaged, including the ammonia shop.

Even before the war, though, Firtash's affairs weren't going well. But already during the war, he actually lost his monopoly on the gas sales market in Ukraine. And Firtash's Regional Gas Company announced losses of $330 million.

Interestingly, not everyone is so bad.

For example, the oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, whose interests are mainly concentrated in the pipe-building business, did not receive direct losses from the war. Pinchuk's main asset in Ukraine - Interpipe - reduced steel production by 16%, railway products - by 43%. Sales fell 10%. But sales revenue increased by 19% to $239 million.

There are also disadvantages. After February 24, when Russian troops launched the first missile strikes, Interpipe management decided to completely suspend production.

The output decreased, but despite this, in the first three months, Interpipe increased its income from product sales, mainly due to an increase in the cost of pipes.

Petro Poroshenko. Are there any losses during the war?

The main sweet tooth of the country did not suffer either. His assets were not affected. Although they have dropped a lot in price.

And Poroshenko himself is no longer a billionaire. But still quite a successful businessman.

However, there is only one conclusion. The war accelerated the process of real deoligarchization. It is also logical to expect further deoligarchization of the entire economy.

Yes, the issue of limiting the influence of the rich and replacing the oligarchic model with a more European one has been raised in Ukraine for a long time. But in peacetime, the oligarchs, as a rule, responded to all such initiatives with a war of power, which tried to weaken them. Now, hardly anyone will dare to fight the state.

Therefore, after the war, Ukraine has every chance to finally become a country in which all the oligarchs will become big businessmen, and will not be “gray cardinals” and get into politics. By the way, it is to this model that Ukraine is being pushed by candidacy for membership in the EU. In addition, deoligarchization was on the list of election promises of President Volodymyr Zelensky. And today the chances that this will happen are greater than ever before.