Russia arrests billionaire, seizes illegally privatized companies
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ChEMK, Kuznetsk Ferroalloys, and the Serov Ferroalloy Plant have all been transferred back to state ownership as the court ruled on the illegality of their privatization in the post-Soviet Union era.
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Steel manufacturing at a Russian plat in an undated photo.(Sputnik)
Russian police in Chelyabinsk Region arrested Yury Antipov, who was listed in Forbes's latest Russian billionaires list, yesterday after a regional court seized three of his companies due to claimed irregularities with their privatization in the 1990s.
The local outlet 74.ru announced the arrest, citing a source in one of his companies, the Chelyabinsk electro-metallurgy combine (ChEMK), but Antipov's charges are still ambiguous.
Earlier in the day, a court in Sverdlovsk Region ruled that Antipov's companies were illegally privatized after the dismantling of the Soviet Union and issued an order for the transfer of his companies, ChEMK, Kuznetsk Ferroalloys, and the Serov Ferroalloy Plant back to state ownership.
Etalon, a joint stock company owned by Antipov and his wife Lyudmila, dominates as the biggest Russian producer of iron alloys and electrodes. On February 5, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office filed a case against Antiplov and his wife, which was followed by the freezing of Antiplov's three companies' assets a day after, as a measure preceding the issuance of the final ruling.
Meet Etalon
Etalon is the outcome of Ultra-Siberian Metallurgical Company's (USMK) folding last June. The latter joint venture company is owned by Aleksandr Aristov, a Chelyabinsk businessman, and Antipov as he joined due to a 2020 division of assets. The Chelyabinsk, Kuznetsk, and Serov factories are all part of USMK.
Etalon’s assets were approximated at 34.6 billion rubles ($376.5 million) as of late September last year. 4.6 million shares of Etalon are owned by Antiplov and 13.4 million are owned by his wife.
ChEMK attorneys described the transfer to Etalon's factories to state ownership as "irrational" as they believe that these factories are a vital supplier of ferroalloys to the Russian market and an “example of proper strategic import substitution.”
ChEMK was ordered last week to stop all production of electrodes by March 1 by Chelyabinsk Governor AlekseyTexler, as he stressed that the company is a major polluter adding “It will be necessary to design and build a new, environmentally friendly, and safe production facility outside the city."
