You're reading: #18 Richest: Oleg Mkrtchan, 44

$651 million Married with three sons and one daughter Interests: steel production, sports

Despite the Industrial Union of Donbass (IUD), which Oleg Mkrtchan co-owns, struggling to pay back debts, he has no intention of taking a step back in the group’s rivalry with the region’s biggest fish, Rinat Akhmetov.

It was revealed that Akhmetov, the owner of Shakhtar Donetsk, and Oleksandr Yaroslavsky, owner of Metallist Kharkiv, paid “bonuses” to the players after they won two friendly games in May.

Not to be outdone, the co-founder of Zaporyzhia’s Metallurg soccer club announced that he also paid bonuses to the nation’s finest.

It’s not just Ukrainian football that Russia-born Mkrtchan supports.

He also owns a controlling stake in Kuban Krasnodar club, which this year was promoted to the Russian Premier League.

The club may further benefit if Mkrtchan’s business plans in the region pan out.

According to news website Live Kuban, the businessman plans to invest profits from a recently completed rolling mill in the team.

Media reports that IUD is also building a plant in Krasnodar manufacturing medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and hopes to conquer one-tenth of Russia’s market.