Avdeev Roman Ivanovich. Avdeev Roman Ivanovich, Russian businessman: biography, personal life, children. Charitable Foundation "Arithmetic of Good" Avdeev businessman

Billionaires from the Forbes list are high-status people by definition.

Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that their hobbies, not directly related to business, correspond to their status. Some buy sports clubs, others go into politics, others just do some exotic things. A resident of Odintsovo, Roman Avdeev, the owner and co-owner of many business structures, including large banks, is not seen in such hobbies and stands out sharply among his colleagues and neighbors on the Forbes list. He is the father of 23 children, natural and adopted. He does not make any distinction between them. Children are children. Therefore, the answer to my question, what is the main thing for him in life, was quite predictable.

Help MK numbers

69th THE PLACE IS TAKEN BY ROMAN AVDEEV in the list richest businessmen Russia for Forbes versions.

At 1.4 billion US DOLLARS Avdeev's condition is estimated today.

The main thing in my life is my family. Family has always been important to me, but right now I have a complete understanding of its role in my life. But everything has its time. In his youth he wanted to become a scientist, but life decreed otherwise. I always try to look ahead and do not regret anything. But still, nostalgia for some episodes of my life remains.

- Roman, you have a diversified business. Do you have any idea how many people work in your structures?

- (Pause.) Never counted the number of employees, did not even think about it. Therefore, it is difficult to answer this question. It's probably in the thousands. I always try to organize a business in such a way that a team of professionals works. In this case, we are talking more about professionalism, and not about the number of employees.

I asked the question about the number of employees in the following context. I would like to understand how easy and why you break up with people?

IN professional activity I break up with people easily. After all, we all work together as long as there is general interest. Someone leaves on his own, for someone I make this decision. If a person is a professional, the work should be interesting to him. Certainly, financial compensation important, but if interest is lost, there is simply no point in further joint activities. I emphasize that the drive must be present in the work.

- Then a rather banal question arises. What is business for you?

Business is business. Business is not part of me, my family. The so-called "dynastic business" is alien to me. Even creative work, in my opinion, it is wrong to make hereditary, and even more so business. I sell some businesses and invest in others, that's my job.

Once I spoke with the British, and they asked me a very interesting question: “Will you be playing golf or doing business in five years?” For me, the answer is clear - to do business. Business is my destiny. But despite this, if a good offer comes, I will sell any of my companies without regret.

- And even this(the conversation took place in the office of the largest capital bank)?

And even this one. I am a fairly self-confident person. I know that in any other business I can be useful.

- Start from scratch?

Starting from scratch will not work, because for this you must first go bankrupt. (Laughs.) In fact, I am sure that I can do any business, because the principles of management are quite universal.

Photo from the archive of Roman Avdeev.

You are a person who has lived all his conscious and unconscious life in the Moscow region, in the Odintsovo district. How do you assess the economic opportunities of the Moscow region?

I see great potential in the area. The region surpasses St. Petersburg in all respects, not to mention other subjects Russian Federation. Of course, it is difficult to compare with Moscow, different weight categories, but this is not a problem of the Moscow region, but a problem of the whole country. Another problem is that a significant part of the region's population works in Moscow. The product is created for Moscow, and the social burden is borne by the region.

I think that new governor Andrey Vorobyov is able to give new impetus to the development of the region. I, as a person living in the Moscow region, do not think that it is in some kind of socio-economic enclosure. the main problem For me, it's endless traffic jams. I really look forward to when they can finally solve this problem. Abroad, I use public transport, not because it is cheaper (this question is not essential for me), but because it is more convenient. In Moscow, I take the metro because it is more convenient, although you often feel like a herring in a barrel. If there is convenient public transport in the region, then I will transfer to it without problems. At one time I went to work by train, but, unfortunately, the intervals of train traffic are too long, so I had to abandon such trips.

I like two things in social networks: the ability to find new interesting people and not lose relevance. There are very curious opinions in which a certain construct is laid down. Even if it's negative. This makes it possible to develop and look at many problems from a different angle, including yourself. Social networks are a completely different form of communication. You can't say good or bad, just different. By the way, in my family I am the only active user of social networks.

But the network creates the illusion of proximity. Here he is, the billionaire Avdeev. You can scold him, you can ask him for money. How correct is my guess?

Virtual intimacy is definitely there. And there are enough petitioners, sometimes there is a feeling that people have just gone crazy. The range of requests is quite wide: from "we don't need anything from you" to "I'll hang myself if you don't give me money." At first there were many such petitioners, now it has become many times less. As a rule, they turn to me for help through social networks. The number of appeals is gigantic, mostly asking for money.

- Do you spend a lot of money on charity?

I can't give an exact figure, but I have an idea of ​​how much money goes to charity. As a matter of principle, I never voice the amount, because it goes against my idea of ​​what charity is.

I don't have the time or opportunity to help everyone. I work with several foundations, but I do it anonymously. I do not like to discuss this, not because it is a secret, but because I think that charity should be anonymous. At the same time, I do not presume to say that other ways of charity do not have the right to exist. As a rule, I help sick children and I hope that my help helped to avoid some critical situations, but there were also cases when, despite my help, children died.

- Can you draw an average portrait of people asking you for help?

It seems to me that it is impossible to create a portrait of the average asker. Now asking and receiving something from someone has become very fashionable. Recently, I thought about the meaning of the Russian word "freebie", then I tried to translate it into English and German. But I have not found an equivalent that would suit me completely.

On the one hand, our society is deaf to the problems and suffering of others. On the other hand, we have a lot of professional beggars and beggars. It's kind of a crazy mix. Unfortunately, it is often very difficult to make out who is really in trouble and who just wants to get money.

At the same time, I read in your blog that you consider it necessary to sharply increase the salaries of officials. Why in poor country rich official?

If we want to fight corruption, then salaries should be 1000% higher than they are now. No matter what we say (I leave out the effectiveness of the work of officials, corruption), but the responsibility that lies with these people, and the functions that they perform, must be paid accordingly.

You need to work not only for the idea, but there must be another motivation. As a citizen of the Russian Federation, I would like the salary to also serve as a motivation for Russian officials.

Now everyone will start talking about the fact that it is better in this case to raise the salaries of teachers, doctors, and increase pensions. But if we really want to see improvements in all these areas, then first of all it is necessary to properly pay for the work of the government. I understand that the idea is unpopular, but this is the only way to attract professionals.

Judging by your vigorous activity outside of business, then it is quite reasonable for you to go into politics. What, however, is already being done by a number of your fellow billionaires. Do you see yourself in politics today?

Everyone must do their job. I take an active civic position and I think it is important and useful, and professionals should be involved in politics! I really don't like dilettantism in anything. I do not rule out that a person who is professionally engaged in business can also successfully engage in politics, but today I simply do not have such a task.

- Why?

You need to have some idea, you need to bring something new. Unfortunately, there are no such ideas that would work and could be useful. Political activity is a special area. A politician should have a basic idea, because this is the most important thing.

Knowledge Day in the Avdeev family is a fun holiday. 10 first graders. Photo from the archive of Roman Avdeev.

- But such a basic idea, in my opinion, exists today. Fight against corruption. Is not it?

Nobody argues that corruption is bad. Still, the fight against corruption is a means to implement the idea, but not the idea itself. In any case, the fight against corruption must begin with oneself. The main problem for society is corruption in families.

- How is that?

I have to buy an iPhone for my children, because other guys already have it. And it's not about the cost of the gadget. Parents start buying expensive gifts for their children instead of finding other motivations for their development. This, in my opinion, is the worst. Being in the captivity of this society, I am forced to buy toys for my children so that they do not feel like outcasts. Unfortunately, most modern parents try to compensate for the lack of communication with their children with expensive gifts and money.

Well, the fight against corruption is not a basic idea. But in the stash there is a reanimated Uvarov triad - autocracy, Orthodoxy, nationality. How do you like this national idea?

A national idea must be formulated that would unite us all. I do not pretend to formulate a national idea, but so far I have not met people who would be against Russia becoming a modern, efficient and livable state. This is a matter of politics. Of course, the Uvarov triad once worked, and worked quite well in an agrarian country, but today we live in a post-industrial society. The national idea should correspond to the modern way of life, should be understandable and close to the person. The process is long, but it is worth striving for.

REFERENCE

Roman Avdeev was born in Odintsovo. I went to school there, went to college, got married, joined the army (construction battalion), returned. Young wife, child. You have to support a family. Not before continuing his studies at the institute. In the late 1980s, he took up the traditional buy-and-sell business. In this connection, higher education stretched for twelve years. "Buy-sell" has become a serious business. Today Roman Avdeev is a rich, very rich man. But his place of residence has not changed. All the same Odintsovo.

Avdeev has 23 children. Ten years ago, he adopted his first children. Most rich people are willing to do charity work. Avdeev is no exception. He helped and helps orphanages. At some point, it became obvious to him that material assistance did not fundamentally change anything in the system of these children's institutions.

We did not select children according to any criteria, - says Avdeev and continues: - I do not believe in bad heredity. Everything can be solved by education. When there is love in the family, all issues are resolved. There must be a persuasion system. If you say one thing and do another, you should forget about the persuasion system. If there is no personal example, then such a system does not work. Everything else is chatter. It happens hard. Educational mistakes happen.

The billionaire's children will not stay long in the "almost ordinary school."

I decided that until the age of 12 children study here, and then they go to a boarding school in Germany. And then they will choose. Return or stay. How they will do it, I don't know. I have not had such an experiment yet. I would like them to come back here. I would very much like to. I myself do not even have such an idea - to emigrate. But this is my choice. Children have their own choice. It's very important to have a choice.

Avdeev opened his cooperative in 1989. In 1994, he bought Moskovsky credit bank". By 2006, he created the Chernozemye agricultural holding and became CEO investment concern "Rossium". In 2010, he opened the Domus-Finance real estate agency, and in 2012, the Ingrad development company. Bought in 2017 football club"Torpedo". Married three times.

The main business of the life of businessman Roman Avdeev is his family. Considering its size, he built several houses on his plot. Children have playrooms, a cinema, a swimming pool, a ski track. It is a pity that it is not often possible to bring everyone together - already grown up and still small - only on major holidays.

Roman Avdeev adopted his first children when he was 34 years old. The businessman's second wife then had oncology, but the wife supported her husband's intention to take Katya and Tima into the family of twins. Agreed with the decision of the father and sons from the first marriage, Anton and Cyril. After the death of his second wife, Roman Ivanovich, being a wealthy widower, adopted 10 more children.

Roman Avdeev: “My wife and I discussed for a long time: we can or we can’t. Because there was such a story I helped orphanages for a long time, and then I realized that it didn’t work.”

According to Avdeev, it is easier for a man than for a woman to accept children who are not their own. And he is very grateful to his third wife, who brings up with him adopted children and children from past marriages as relatives.

Avdeev said that for the first time he decided to take exactly two children, because he wanted both a boy and a girl at once.

Roman Avdeev: “We wanted twins precisely because these children have less chance of getting into a family. They take one easier. Then I took all the other children from the Odintsovo or Naro-Fominsk hospitals - just the nearest districts. We had preferences based on gender. But then, when it came down to specifics, they kept getting off track. Ideally, they wanted to have an equal number of boys and girls. And now we have more boys.”

Now eight children live permanently with their parents. The youngest are 6 years old. From the age of 12, many were sent to study abroad to the UK and Germany. Weekends are spent with parents whenever possible. Make a stool for a Forbes billionaire with your son best entertainment for Saturday evening.

The main thing in relationships with children, according to Avdeev, is trust, not the amount of time you spend with them. In his family, they receive various opportunities, but the billionaire does not plan to leave them an inheritance.

Roman Avdeev: “I try to help them and try to give them what will remain with them all the time, this is upbringing, education, knowledge. And then they have to choose and rely on themselves. I always say: I will help you, and you can always count on me, but I will not do anything for you. I definitely want to leave everything for charitable purposes and for solving the problems of orphanhood.

Childhood and student years

The beginning of an entrepreneurial career

ICD and other projects

In 1996, Avdeev began to develop his entrepreneurial activities in the field of rural and food industries. The business was not successful, and Avdeev soon sold all his shares. The money was invested in the MKB.

A little later, the man bought controlling shares of a sugar factory, which was located in the Lipetsk region. He also purchased nearby land that was ideal for agricultural needs. In the 2000s, the Chernozemye production organization was established on them, which supplied about 3% of all Russian sugar. By the mid-2000s, Avdeev had sold his shares and reinvested them in MKB.

In 2005, Avdeev became the director of the Rossium concern. Three years later, he participated in the purchase land plots in the Moscow region. Together with his partner, Avdeev purchased 6 hectares of land and created a construction market with over 500 points of sale.

In 2008, the entrepreneur set about developing the Sever-Les association, which was located in the Arkhangelsk region. It included 18 firms that were engaged in the timber industry. Subsequently, the association, which had an annual revenue of 65 million USD, was sold. The money was invested in another project.

In 2008, after the sale of all the shares of Chernozemye, Avdeev bailed out a considerable amount of funds, which he decided to capitalize in the Moscow Credit Bank. At the time, it was in about 70th place on the list of establishments with the largest assets. MKB was a universal bank and had a transparent management structure.

"Business in motion" with Roman Avdeev

In 2010, Avdeev founded a real estate agency called Domus Finance. The company, which still exists, specializes in concluding transactions on the sale of real estate objects both from the primary and from the secondary Moscow market. The company has an extensive staff of highly qualified employees and provides services high level. Today, the real estate agency is implementing over two dozen large projects.

Two years after the creation of Domus Finance, Avdeev founded the Ingrad company. Its main specialization is the construction of high-class residential complexes in Moscow and the surrounding areas.

In 2012, the IBC was a huge success. EBRD and IFC assets were invested in its capital. In the same year, he was on the list of the 20 largest domestic banks. In 2013, Avdeev became the owner of the Veropharm pharmaceutical company, but sold it a year later.

In 2015, the businessman began to develop the Rossium concern. As a result, it turned into a whole investment holding, which united not only banks, but also other institutions involved in financing, the sale of commercial real estate, and the production of pharmaceutical products.

In 2016, MKB was among the 10 largest banks in the Russian Federation. Roman Avdeev is still the main owner of MKB and is also a member of its supervisory members.

Awards

In 2014, Avdeev was recognized as the "Banker of the Year". He was also honored with the "Industry Legend" award. A year later, the banker was named the "Best Investor" according to the results of the RBC award.

Personal life and children

On this moment banker is one of the two most billionaires with many children in the world. He has 23 children. 19 of them were adopted.

Roman Avdeev believes that parents should not overly control the younger generation. Once he also admitted that he did not intend to leave wills to his offspring.

Charity, hobbies and personal views

Roman Ivanovich loves philosophy. He believes that this science is useful in the field of entrepreneurship.

The entrepreneur maintains a blog on LiveJournal, where he shares his thoughts on social assistance and charity, notes on historical topics and other interesting publications.

The man has a passion for sports, but does not want it to become his second job. The billionaire skis and bikes, tries himself in mountaineering, visits Gym, walks a lot.

Roman Avdeev especially loves running. He took part in marathons more than once. Once a man combined this hobby with the activities of his own foundation, arranging a charity marathon. All funds raised during the event were spent on individual lessons for schoolchildren. The training was aimed at preparing them for entering universities.

The banker spends time traveling. He states that exposure to foreign cultures plays a huge role in personal development.

Banker Roman Avdeev— a famous person and among businessmen, and ... among adoptive parents. The 45-year-old owner of Moscow Credit Bank is the father of 23 children: 4 relatives and 19 adopted. big family?

- Roman, how it all began - what was this impulse?

- The question is very simple. I tried to help orphanages - it's completely useless. Not because they are bad with children there, and not because there are some bad teachers, evil people - on the contrary, there are many fans of their work. It's just that the format itself is such that it does not teach children to live independently after the orphanage, children do not socialize. Accordingly, I asked myself the question: "How else can you move in this direction?". And 10 years ago I started to adopt.

How do you know which child is yours?

- If there is a willingness to accept a child, then we do not choose anyone. We have a principle: we adopt very small, babies. After all, everything in a child, in principle, is laid up to 3 years. And even more, which we do not see and do not realize, is laid up to a year - here the conditions for development, attention, care are very important. We are just for small child the more we can do, the more we can do. I often communicate with those who want to adopt. Sometimes they say: "We want to be older, otherwise there is no strength for the baby." But here you need to decide: do you want to accept the child into the family - or do not want to. If so, then this is some kind of strange approach - there are no forces.

Yes, it takes a lot of strength. Roman, are you discussing with your family the decision to adopt another child?

“It can't be just my decision. I believe that the support of the family - spouse, spouse - is the main thing here. Otherwise, it's completely pointless. I am glad that my wife Elena supported me. But she was internally ready: when we got married, I already had 12 adopted children. I started the process with my wife, who is now dead.

- There is also such a situation: a woman wants to adopt a child, she is considering it, but a man is against it.

“So you don’t have to do it. You need to be prepared: if both spouses have no desire to accept this child, then it is not necessary. Here keyword- accept.

- And theoretically, you can somehow prepare a man, win him over to your side?

- Theoretically, everything is possible. Edison said that it is theoretically possible to take a person, disassemble him into molecules, transfer him by wire, and on the other hand, assemble him - in general, this does not contradict any physical laws. This is a difficult question, a very difficult one. A person must reach the decision on adoption himself. So purposefully take, prepare, go to a psychologist - in my opinion, this does not work. This does not mean at all that people who are not ready to adopt are bad. No, everyone has their own life. I am not encouraging anyone to adopt.

- And if we are talking about a childless couple, when for a woman the appearance of a child in the family becomes a matter of principle?

- What kind of family is this, where people cannot agree on key issues? A family is constant agreements, respect, the ability to hear each other.

- When you just started to adopt, there was a misunderstanding: why do you need so much?

Of course they did. They still write to me, say, on the site: "Yes, everything is clear, this is how he avoids taxes." They write a lot. I am completely calm about this: they don’t understand - and that’s fine.

- What about relatives?

- My parents support me. To be honest, I didn’t particularly discuss it: I didn’t gather all the relatives - here, advise how best to do it. It's still a family decision. I discussed this with my parents after we all decided with my wife. They are scared, of course, they express various concerns - but they support.

What kind of fears?

“Well, we are all mortal... They are afraid that they will not have enough strength, that it will be difficult to raise children if I am gone - and they are still small. Such completely worldly fears. Once again, this is a question of acceptance. If you are ready to accept a child, then any other fears - the notorious genetics or something else - are not important. I take a sober look at things, anything can happen - and with your own child too. But if this is your child, you adopted him - and these are all my children - then everything becomes easier. The only thing that can be implied by the word "genetics" is physical diseases, including hereditary ones. Everything else can be handled by upbringing. I deeply believe in this. And most importantly, I see the example of our family.

The adult generation of the family - and children.
From left to right: wife's mother Tamara Stepanovna, Roman Avdeev.
In the center - from left to right: Roman Avdeeva's wife Elena - Ivan Isakovich, mother - Galina Borisovna.

“But, on the other hand, even wonderful people grow up their own monster children ...

- You have to educate. And often education is replaced by corruption - people simply pay off their children. The child needs to devote not much time, but when necessary. And you need to support it - exactly when you need it. And very often parents buy expensive toys instead of talking.

For example, I was forced to buy an iPhone for my children - because everyone in the class has one! I don’t understand why parents – often not very wealthy – buy this? I resist this in every possible way. There was an experience of going to one paid school, “scratching” began there: “What a brilliant child you have”, “We have delicious food” - but not a word about education. Everything is somehow not being discussed, not doing that. This is a tragedy for families - you need to take care of your child, you need to love children.

- But when do you have time? To deal with so many children, to delve into their problems?

- Once again I repeat: it is not the amount of time devoted, but the quality that matters. Very often I hear - here, I was born Small child, I definitely need to run to bathe him, because he remembers that his dad is bathing him, and this is imprinted in his memory for life. This is complete nonsense. The child needs to be given time when it is needed. And is in partnership with him. No, of course, you need to communicate with the baby. Another thing is that with him we do not enter into adult communication, conversational. It is very important that the presence in the life of a child is not for show, but that it is high-quality communication.

- Do you all get together, do you have any family traditions?

We live outside the city cottage village. There large territory, it has 3 houses. Each child has their own room. We often meet at the table on weekends. But there is no such special tradition: everyone has their own affairs, their own interests, everyone has their own compulsory program. In winter we go skiing to France. More often it turns out for several people: so that everything, everything together, has not happened for a long time.

If speak about family traditions then I am sure that freedom is an absolute good. And the imposition of tradition, no matter how beautiful they may be, is an absolute evil. Everything should be organic. Everyone should receive from the family, life together bliss.

- Three adult children live separately, do you also have time to communicate with them?

- Yes, with all quite normal relations. The eldest is 23 years old, I am already a grandfather.

- Do all the kids give gifts on holidays?

- Yes, they do all the crafts, draw. But it's no secret, of course, that everything is organized by mom and nanny. And on my mother's birthday - me and the nanny (laughs).

How do you celebrate your children's birthdays?

“We just get together, congratulate, hand out gifts. The birthday boy gives his gifts. But we don’t make a fetish out of anything, we don’t create a problem out of anything. So, to celebrate every birthday on purpose, with invited clowns or a big trip somewhere - there is no such thing. So you have to celebrate every week - and the holiday will turn into some kind of routine. We try to be sincere.

- Do you go somewhere together in Moscow?

- With our traffic jams - very rarely. If some groups only go to the cinema.

Schools, nannies and manny

- Probably, such big family complex logistics. How is everything organized?

– Routine and discipline is important issue. Every child has their own schedule, although we certainly deviate from it often. This is both good and bad. There are classes that are required for everyone. For example, all my children are bilingual. Four English educators - three women and a man - they simply don’t know how to do it differently, they don’t speak Russian. Probably not enough male influence but we don't have that tradition. And the British have: there is even a term - manny - man + nanny, that is, "male nanny". Respectively, English language, swimming (we have a swimming pool at home, an instructor arrives), music. This is a must. additional education the key word, I think, is interest. Now they say that children are overworked, tired - this is not so. If the child is interested, he will go to bed later. Why are children their own enemies? So they like it.

And, of course, the school kindergarten- all state.

- You also have a real kindergarten at home! But do they still go?

— We try to make children communicate more outside. And in the fact that they go to kindergarten, the main idea is socialization. Yes, they communicate a lot with each other, but we suddenly encountered a problem that we did not even expect. They were taught that everyone around them is brothers and sisters, toys should be shared. And the kids went to kindergarten - and began to bring toys from the garden. Well, this is, by and large, called "theft." They began to pay attention, specifically personalize - this is your toy, but this one is yours. They also had separate toys, of course, but they were used to the fact that everything in the house can be taken, everyone around is their own. "Where did the car come from? - I took it from a boy in the group. - Does the boy know? - No." Children must learn the norms of behavior, for this we send them to kindergarten.

- Sometimes wealthy people, on the contrary, try to separate their children from "ordinary" people, limit communication. The idea of ​​"cultivating a breed" is not close to you?

No, not close. For example, when we fly by plane, we always take economy class tickets. Or I was in England talking with the Lord, the most upperclass. Well, a completely social, completely simple person. In the summer, the whole family goes to the dacha in Lipetsk. They have never flown to the Maldives or the Bahamas with children. It seems to me that it is much better in Lipetsk - we have our own cows there. Good vacation— and everyone loves it.

I consider it very important to cultivate respect for all people, no matter what. Of course we have a chef. But we teach children: "He cooks because you can't, he helps us - and you should be grateful to him." Address by name, patronymic, no familiarity. And we talk with the staff: if suddenly the children cross some boundaries, to be severely suppressed. There are no problems with nannies, but sometimes it happens with other employees.

Do the children have household chores?

- Certainly. The first duty is to clean your room. Our children are on self-service: the smallest ones learn to dress and undress, and then build up and build up. Everything that they can do for themselves, they do for themselves.

— Last question: Are today's children different from us?

- Yes, I look at my children: they differ from me in better side. All. Because there are new opportunities, there are no such complexes that I had with me - after all, life does not stand still.

Sneakers were pleasantly springy on the paths of Sokolniki Park, it was a clear August morning. The phone call interrupted the workout. Banker Roman Avdeev interrupted his run and picked up the phone. "Did you see that?" - asked his friend. It was about a letter from Alfa Capital's sales manager, Sergei Gavrilov, excerpts from which were published by Vedomosti. In the letter, Gavrilov warned clients about problems in several large banks, urged them not to wait for their reorganization and transfer assets to more reliable banks. The list included Otkritie, Binbank, Promsvyazbank and Avdeev's Moscow Credit Bank.

Soon the banker was talking to the co-owner of Alfa Group, Peter Aven - he called to personally apologize for what had happened. And then Gavrilov’s prophecies began to come true: his letter was published in mid-August 2017, two weeks later the Central Bank sent Otkritie for reorganization, followed by Binbank and Promsvyazbank. MKB is the only one from the "Moscow banking ring" (as the banks began to be called from Gavrilov's letter) that remained afloat. How did Avdeev manage to save the bank and why did the financier, who preferred to do business alone, sell his shares in the main assets?

The Fellowship of the Ring

A ruined city, people screaming with grief, bodies pulled out from under the rubble of buildings - this is how the Armenian Spitak saw after the earthquake in December 1988, student volunteers from the Moscow Energy Institute. Among them was a freshman Roman Avdeev. For two weeks he and his comrades lived in tents: during the day he helped to clear the rubble, at night he ate stew and warmed himself with alcohol. Before leaving, the volunteers were threatened with expulsion, but upon their return, all tests were automatically set.

Avdeev did not manage to finish his studies at MPEI - he was expelled when he, carried away by commerce, abandoned his studies. Avdeev began by trading decoders in the markets, with high margins, the initial accumulation of capital proceeded rapidly. In 1994, Avdeev turned up the Moscow Credit Bank (MKB) and bought it for 2 billion non-denominated rubles (about $500,000). Soon the bank turned into one of the largest players in the market of cash collection services in Moscow and the Moscow region. By the early 2000s, cash collection brought MKB more than 30% of commission income, and the clientele was appropriate: Avdeev relied on working with large retail chains and small private entrepreneurs, to whom he issued short loans secured by proceeds.

Everything changed in the 2008 crisis. Avdeev sold the land plots he owned in the Moscow region, contributed 6 billion rubles to the capital of the MKB, doubling it, and began to lend generously large companies, the limits for which were reduced by other banks. Mechel, OGK-6, Miratorg, Severstal appeared among the clients of MKB. In 2009-2010, the bank managed to almost triple its assets, up to 165.5 billion rubles.

Through the Rossium investment holding, Avdeev also developed other projects, such as development. MKB began lending to housing developers and selling apartments through the Domus-Finance real estate agency. Then Avdeev founded the company "Ingrad", it began to buy up land and by 2015 became one of the largest developers in the Moscow region with a portfolio of projects of more than 1.8 million square meters. m.

Investments in NPF Soglasie, control over which Avdeev acquired in 2013, turned out to be successful. Then the fund's assets did not exceed 5 billion rubles. In 2014-2015, Soglasiya managed to attract almost 500,000 new clients; by the end of 2015, it managed 22 billion rubles of pension savings.

The largest private pension group at that time was formed around Otkritie Bank, its NPF Electric Power Industry and Lukoil-Garant managed 287 billion rubles (14.3% of the entire market). An impressive collection of NPFs, later merged into FG "Future", was also collected by Boris Mints, one of the partners of Vadim Belyaev, the main shareholder of Otkritie, as well as the Safmar group of Mikhail Gutseriev. NPFs were bought, among other things, in order to finance the projects of their owners. The Central Bank tried to moderate their appetites, in particular, set limits on the share of affiliated companies and individual instruments in fund portfolios. It was these restrictions that laid the foundation for the notorious “Moscow banking ring”. “A group of enthusiasts came up with an elegant and formally legal scheme, it involved funds, banks and issuers valuable papers, which could be included in the highest quotation lists. The principle was simple: your fund gives money for our projects, ours - for yours, ”says one of the financiers.

Did Avdeev's structures participate in these schemes? Avdeev himself calls any arguments about the "banking ring" conspiracy theories. But in 2015, the O1 Group (which combines the pension and development businesses of Boris Mints) owed 24 billion rubles to the MCB, and its pension funds kept 34 billion rubles on accounts and deposits in Avdeev's bank.

In the summer of the same year, Avdeev discussed with the Mintz and Safmar funds the possibility of participating in the MKB IPO. The deal did not take place - allegedly on the recommendation of the Central Bank, which did not like that these same pension groups took part in the additional capitalization of Promsvyazbank, buying out 10% for 6.9 billion rubles each. Already after the placement, during which the MKB raised 13.2 billion rubles, the funds of Mints, Gutseriev, as well as NPF RGS, acquired approximately 3.5% of the MKB in the secondary market each. But one of the largest investors in the IPO was the Region group, which serves Rosneft. At the end of 2015, she owned 9.5% of MKB.

Rich "Region"

“There will be no more of my foot either in the stadium or in your box!” - the billionaire Alexander Mamut could not restrain himself. In the summer of 2003, he came to the owner of Luzhniki Vladimir Alyoshin to buy the Torpedo football club from him, but the deal fell through, although Mamut offered $ 30 million for the team, and with him the purchase was ready to be financed by billionaires Roman Abramovich and Suleiman Kerimov. The partners wanted to turn Torpedo into a European level club.

The failure dealt a severe blow to Mamut's self-esteem. He was a passionate fan of Torpedo and could not look indifferently at the absurd situation: two clubs with the same name were playing in Moscow at the same time. Historically, the owner of the "Torpedo" was the plant. Likhachev (ZIL), he also owned the home stadium for the team. Edward Streltsov. In 1997, ZIL was unable to maintain the Torpedo and sold it to Aleshin. The fans did not forgive the club for moving to Luzhniki and convinced the ZIL leadership to create a clone team Torpedo-ZIL. Mamut tried to buy her too, but failed again: Torpedo-ZIL went to the co-owner of Norilsk Nickel Mikhail Prokhorov, during the division of assets with Vladimir Potanin, Nornickel went, and in 2010 the team was disbanded. Stadium them. Eduard Streltsov, along with the development company OPIN, went to Prokhorov.

In 2016, Roman Avdeev bought out OPIN. He arrived at the stadium and, according to him, was so imbued with the aura of the place that he decided to buy Torpedo (at that time the club again belonged to ZIL) and return the team to his native stadium. Although Avdeev himself is far from football. As a child, he was a fan of CSKA - and then in defiance of his father, a Spartak fan. “Now, by the will of fate, I have become a Torpedo fan. At the end of the next season, we should reach the National League,” says the banker. But he has plans related to the development project of the territory around the stadium named after Prokhorov, inherited from Prokhorov. Streltsov housing area of ​​266,000 square meters. m. The head of the consulting company "TOP Idea" Oleg Stupenkov believes that this is one of the most promising projects in the portfolio of "Ingrad" (Avdeev combined it with OPIN).

Rossium's partner in Ingrad is the Region group, in the summer of 2017 it bought out 18.2% of the company for 7.5 billion rubles. Avdeev says that "Region" became a client of MKB back in 2006. Subsequently, Region, with the assistance of Rosneft, experienced a rapid transformation from a second-tier player to one of the largest asset managers in Russia. In 2011, the controlling owners of the "Region" became its top managers, headed by President Sergei Sudarikov. Together with them, Sergey Korol, who led the company RN-Trust, which managed the funds of Neftegarant, became a shareholder of Region - pension fund Rosneft. The king was also a good friend of Pyotr Lazarev, who had been in charge of the financial block of Rosneft since the early 2000s.

In the early 2000s, Lazarev, through a chain of companies, was one of the beneficiaries of RN-Trust, subsequently the King became the main owner of this company. Having redeemed a share in Region, he contributed RN-Trust to its capital. In addition, Rosneft sold the Portfolio Investments company with assets worth 18 billion rubles to the Region group. In 2011, the assets of the "Region" quadrupled, up to 105 billion rubles. Today "Region" is the fifth group in Russia in terms of assets under management (336.3 billion rubles). "Neftegarant" (divided into two structures: one manages 7.3 billion rubles of pension savings, the second - 56.5 billion rubles of corporate pensions) continues to be one of its clients along with NPF Surgutneftegaz, Transneft and Sberbank. Relations between Region and the oil company are not limited to managing the money of future pensioners of Rosneft: they act as co-owners in a number of projects, for example, Sibintek, an IT contractor of Rosneft.

In addition to the "Region", the shares of the ICB at the IPO were bought out by another management company "Regionfinansresurs", owned by the former employee of the "Region" Natalya Bogdanova, she became the owner of 8.7% of the bank. A few months after the IPO, Rosneft also provided financing to the MKB, placing several short-term deposits with the bank for 300 billion rubles, and then issuing a subordinated loan for $300 million until 2021. An acquaintance of Avdeev says that the bank’s client relations with Rosneft began even earlier - in 2013, the structures oil company placed more than $500 million in MKB. The bank's financial statements for 2013 indeed reflect a significant (from 1.2 billion to 23.5 billion rubles) growth in balances on accounts and deposits of customers from the chemical and oil industries. According to a Forbes source, during the 2014 crisis, the bank had problems with the return of this money, but Rosneft continued to finance it. Why did the oil company need Avdeev's bank?

Banks for Rosneft

“The main currency speculator of Russia has been found,” politician Boris Nemtsov said on his Facebook on December 13, 2014, at the height of the currency panic, when the dollar exchange rate reached 60 rubles for the first time in history. The oppositionist assured that Rosneft took a loan of 625 billion rubles from the Central Bank secured by its bonds, and then began to buy up foreign currency and brought down the ruble.

At the end of 2014, Rosneft found itself in a difficult position. The company's debt, 90% denominated in foreign currency, exceeded 2.5 trillion rubles, the deadline for the next payment on a loan to buy TNK-BP was approaching, but US sanctions cut the company off from foreign financing. Could not help Rosneft and its subsidiary All-Russian Bank for Regional Development (RRDB), which was also under sanctions. On December 11, the company placed bonds for 625 billion rubles, and a week later it paid $7 billion to foreign creditors. But Nemtsov was wrong, Otkritie bank provided the Rosneft currency, having received it from the Central Bank on the security of Rosneft bonds.

Later, in an interview with the Financial Times, the head of VTB, Andrei Kostin, admitted that the Otkritie group was chosen for this deal because it did not fall under sanctions. Thanks to deals with Rosneft, Otkritie almost doubled its assets to 2.7 trillion rubles, becoming the largest private bank in Russia. The triumph lasted until July 2017, when rating agency ACRA assigned the bank an unexpectedly low rating of BBB-, which did not allow placing funds in it budget organizations and pension savings. For a month, 621 billion rubles leaked from Otkritie, in August the bank went for reorganization.

Avdeev's bank, meanwhile, also increased its assets. According to Moody’s Junior Vice President Petr Paklin, the amount of reverse repurchase transactions (purchase of securities with an obligation resale) accounts for more than 40% of MCB assets (total 1.88 trillion rubles under IFRS) and is comparable in size to the loan portfolio. Paklin explains the growth of the reverse repo at MKB by the fact that the bank lends to several investment companies secured by bonds.

Avdeev does not disclose the economic essence of these transactions. Forbes sources familiar with the MKB business claim that we are talking about financing deals for Rosneft. Two Forbes interlocutors in the financial market say that immediately after the annexation of Crimea and the imposition of sanctions, Rosneft began looking for a bank through which it would be possible to attract foreign currency financing. At first, this function was performed by the Otkritie bank, but other options were also considered. The main condition was that the bank was not affiliated with the oil company, otherwise it could fall under sanctions. In the spring of 2017, Region, which represented the interests of Rosneft, considered the possibility of buying Svyaz-Bank and Globex from VEB (Region reported that this was not the case), but this deal was allegedly not agreed upon in the presidential administration.

As a result, the choice fell on the MKB. Since the beginning of 2015, Rosneft has placed two dozen bond issues for 2.2 trillion rubles - some of them, according to Forbes sources, settled on the balance sheet of the MKB, and the bank's assets in 2015 doubled to 1.2 trillion rubles.

In October 2017, Rosneft secured cooperation with MKB: its structures RN-Nyaganneftegaz and Samotlorneftegaz placed subordinated deposits in the bank for 22 billion rubles for 49 years. At the same time, Avdeev held the bank's SPO for 14.4 billion rubles. After him, "Rossium" retained 56.7% of the MKB, and the shares of the "Region" and "Regionfinansresursa" groups amounted to 8.7% and 10%, respectively.

Flight of the Owl

In 2008, Avdeev began to develop in Velsk, located two kilometers south of the colony, where one of the Yukos shareholders Platon Lebedev was sitting, the Sever Les group, which unites several woodworking enterprises. Avdeev appointed his son Anton as the deputy general director of the group. Avdeev Jr. had to work in difficult conditions. “800 km to Moscow, 500 km to Arkhangelsk,” a banker's acquaintance describes Velsk. “There is only water at the plant, and the owner of one of the sawmills was once attacked by a bear.” Avdeev himself was accustomed to more difficult conditions: he is fond of ski touring, conquered the peak of Wilson in Antarctica, and now dreams of Mount Matterhorn.

Roman Avdeev has 23 children, 19 of them are adopted. Adopting children Avdeev began after, having provided support to several orphanages, he realized that the system was not working efficiently enough. Now only one son, Kirill, works in the structures of Rossium, since Avdeev is against nepotism in business. He is not going to leave a large inheritance to his children, he himself is content with little: his small office - five by six steps - at the headquarters of the MKB on Sretenka resembles the office of a middle manager.

IN Lately Avdeev is ready to make room in business. In addition to the stake in Ingrad, the Region group bought the Agronova-L agricultural holding from him, as well as 10% in the Soglasie NPF, whose funds it manages. Avdeev also has another partner - the young financier Nikolai Katorzhnov. In 2009, he began working in the Otkritie group, and already in 2013, a year before his thirtieth birthday, he headed the group's London subsidiary, broker Otkritie Capital International Limited (OCIL), and at the same time oversaw the investment block at Otkritie Bank. Katorzhnov specialized in repo transactions, his team participated in the financing of Rosneft. OCIL earned an average of $ 20 million in net profit per year, at the beginning of 2015 Katorzhnov moved away from work at Otkritie and took up other projects. For example, he invested in CloudDC, which was building a data center in the Moscow region. Thanks to good relations with the leadership of Region (including Sudarikov), Katorzhnov was able to sell CloudDC to Sibinteka in 2017.

Sudarikov advised him to turn to Avdeev in order to fulfill his long-standing desire - to buy out OCIL from the shareholders of the sinking Otkritie. Avdeev agreed, he, according to his version, was looking for opportunities for development investment business inside Rossium. The transaction was carried out based on the value of OCIL's net assets, which is about $330 million. By that time, a temporary administration had already been operating in Otkritie, but the Central Bank had no claims against buyers.

Avdeev offered Katorzhnov to become a partner in Rossium, and he bought out part of the additional issue of the holding for 26 billion rubles, receiving about 10% in it. Katorzhnov says that he bought Rossium shares for 10 billion rubles (Avdeev bought the rest). Now Katorzhnov not only manages OCIL (which was renamed Sova Capital), but also received a mandate from Avdeev to develop the financial business in the group as a whole. Katorzhnov plans to turn Sova Capital into a full-fledged prime broker and estimates the possible effect of the merger with MKB at $100 million in additional margin.

The IBC is actively hiring a new team. The reverse side of the process is that top managers who have worked with Avdeev since the 2000s are leaving the bank. “The old team does not have confidence in its future, some of the managers are planning to buy out the collection business and set off on a free voyage,” says Avdeev's friend. He and several people close to MKB told Forbes that management in the bank had actually passed to people representing the interests of Rosneft and Region. For example, at the end of 2017, Mikhail Polunin became the first deputy chairman, previously he headed the Peresvet bank, which sanitized Rosneft's RRDB.

Avdeev good-naturedly dismisses any talk about the oil company, calling it just one of the bank's clients, and Polunin's arrival at the bank urges not to be considered in isolation from other major appointments: people from other banks, Gazprombank and Sberbank, also joined the board of the MKB. However, Avdeev's acquaintances say that he himself has already retired from the operational management of the bank for several years.

The founder of the MKB says that he does not intend to leave the business, and Forbes in the "Region" reported that there are no plans to further buy out shares in the assets of Rossium. “I have not heard that Roman Ivanovich wants to go out of business at all,” says Katorzhnov. - Rossium has now changed its strategy and is actively working to reduce financial leverage. Among other things, this translates into a willingness to give third-party partners the opportunity to invest in some of their projects.”

“What difference does it make who owns the shares of MKB and Rossium? In any case, all business decisions are agreed with the largest contributor, ”says the Forbes interlocutor, who worked in the financial structures of Rosneft. According to him, the oil company has made this principle an absolute: not a single step can be taken without the consent of Rosneft. It seems that the same will be the case in the ICD.

- With the participation of Yulia Titova