Suleyman Kerimov

Suleyman Abusaidovich Kerimov (Сулейма́н Абусаи́дович Кери́мов; Керимрин Абусаидан хва Сулейман; born 12 March 1966) is a Russia-based billionaire, oligarch, and politician of Lezgian origin.

Kerimov has close ties to Vladimir Putin's government in Russia, as well as Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader.

He graduated from high school in 1983, and following this enrolled in the Civil Engineering Department at Dagestan Polytechnic Institute in 1984, though his obligatory military service for the Soviet Army brought his studies to a halt just one year later.

After completing his service in 1986, Kerimov continued his studies at Dagestan State University, where he graduated with a degree in financial accounting and economics in 1989.

During his studies he was Deputy Chairman of DSU's Trade Union Committee.

It was also at university that Kerimov met his wife, Firuza, the daughter of a former Trade Union leader.

Soon after his university graduation in 1989, Kerimov took a job as an economist at the Eltav electrical plant in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan.

The state-controlled plant supplied transistors and semi-conductors to television-makers, while also producing diodes, microchips and halogen lamps.

Kerimov was paid 150 roubles (approximately $250 dollars) a month and he and his wife lived in a worker's hostel attached to the plant, where they shared one room of a two-room flat.

Eventually, Kerimov rose to the rank of Deputy Director General at Eltav and began to dabble in investing alongside during the fall of the Soviet Union.

He entered politics in the 1990s.

Kerimov has stated to have dreamed of making money from an early age, an ambition that prompted him to later move from his native Dagestan in the early 1990s.

In 1993, Kerimov was put in charge of handling relations between Eltav and Fedprombank, a Moscow bank established by the electrical company.

Fedprombank financed lagging industries and Kerimov and his associates soon became creditors to large utility companies, allowing them to continue to provide key services.

Once the Russian economy stabilized, the debts were repaid with hefty returns for Fedprombank and, consequently, Kerimov.

In 1995, Kerimov was appointed to head the banking and trading company Soyuz-Finans, and by 1997, Kerimov had built a 50% stake in Vnukovo Airlines and used his leverage to take over Fedprombank, buying out his partners' shares.

By 1999, he won control of Nafta Moskva, a former state-oil trader.

In late 1999, Kerimov bought a 55% stake in the oil trading company Nafta Moskva, the successor to the Soviet monopoly firm Soyuznefteexport, for $50 million.

In the 2000s, Kerimov obtained billions of dollars in loans from big Russian state-owned banks, such as Sberbank and VTB.

Through these loans, he became a major stakeholder in Gazprom and Uralkali, as well as Sberbank.

By 2000, he had increased his stake of Nafta Moskva to 100%.

Kerimov undertook a mass restructuring of the company, selling off all of the oil-related aspects and creating an investment and holding company.

Nafta's investments in the mid-2000s included purchase of the business center Smolensky Passazh and AvtoBank.

In 2003, Kerimov managed to secure a $43 million loan from the state-owned Vnesheconombank, which he invested in the oil and gas company Gazprom.

Within the next year, share prices for the Russian gas company doubled and Kerimov was able to pay off the entirety of the loan within four months.

In 2004 Sberbank, now the largest bank in Russia and Eastern Europe, provided Kerimov with a loan of $3.2 billion., which was later repaid, and these funds were also invested in equities.

In November 2005, Kerimov's Nafta Moskva acquired JSC Polymetal, one of Russia's largest gold and silver mining companies.

In 2007, he took the company public on the London Stock Exchange, then sold 70% of his shares in 2008 before gold would go on to climb to an all-time high in 2011.

By 2008, his fortune had risen to $21 billion, and by 2022, it had decreased to $11 billion.

Since 2008, Kerimov has represented the Republic of Dagestan in the Federation Council of Russia.

By 2008, Kerimov had amassed a 5% stake in Gazprom, a 6% stake in Sberbank, along with an estimated fortune of $17.5 billion, making him the 36th richest man in the world.

However, in mid-2008, Kerimov sold all his Gazprom and Sberbank shares.

In 2008, Kerimov sold control over Polymetal.

He bought the football club FC Anzhi Makhachkala in 2011, which subsequently made numerous high-profile signings.

The club bought Samuel Eto'o, making him the highest-paid player in the world.

In 2013, Kerimov drastically and abruptly cut the team's funding, prompting a firesale of players.

In April 2018, he was placed under sanctions by the United States Department of Treasury.

In the wake of 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Kerimov was sanctioned as a Russian oligarch close to President Putin, by the US, UK and EU on 15 March 2022.

Kerimov's son Said Kerimov resigned from the board of Polyus Gold in April 2022 and the family sold its stake in the company worth $6.3 billion relinquishing the majority shareholder position of Polyus Gold.

Kerimov was born in Derbent, Dagestan.