Kuchma's son-in-law would retain billions of dollars worth of assets in media and industry.
Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk is in talks to sell his domestic ferroalloy business assets to Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg, Kommersant business daily reported on Aug. 17 citing informed sources.
Citing analysts, the newspaper said Pinchuk could raise as much as $1.5 billion from the sale of minority stakes in three ferroalloy plants (Nikopol, Zaporizhya and Stakhanov ferroalloy plants), as well as interests in two associated ore-mining companies (Marhanets and Ordzonikidze Ore Mining).
Officials at Pinchuk’s London-based EastOne asset management company and Vekselberg’s Renova Group were not immediately able to confirm or deny the reports.
Sources close to Pinchuk this year said that he lost control in recent years over management and operations at the ferroalloy assets.
Victor Pinchuk
The businesses and cash flow are now, according to the sources, under control of a business rival, the so-called Privat group led by billionaires Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolubov.
Should the sale to Vekselberg proceed, it remains unclear if he has already or would be able to find common ground with the Privat group.
Born in Drohobych, western Ukraine, Vekselberg is one of the richest businessmen operating in Russia and other former Soviet republics. He and Lviv-born Mikhail Fridman (owner of Alfa Group) are partners of BP in hydrocarbon exploration and production company TNK-BP.
Along with other partners, Vekselberg co-owns lucrative aluminum and energy companies in the CIS region.
Pinchuk established himself as one of Ukraine’s top five richest individuals while his father-in-law, Leonid Kuchma, ruled Ukraine as president from 1994 through 2005.
Should he sell the ferroalloy assets to Vekselberg, Pinchuk would remain owner of billions of dollars worth of other assets in Ukraine, including a handful of steel pipe factories and television channels.
