You're reading: #29 Richest: Oleksandr Slobodyan, 54

$437 million Married with one daughter and two sons Interests: Beer breweries

In a beer market dominated by multinational brewers, Oleksandr Slobodyan has held his own.

Running Ukraine’s first privatized company and last independent, mass production brewery in Obolon, Slobodyan has long led Ukraine’s beer market, only relinquishing first place in 2009 to Sun InBev Ukraine with still a strong 32 percent showing in output share.

Being by far Ukraine’s largest exporter of beer – 80 percent of all beer exported from Ukraine – Obolon brewery has suffered in its most lucrative export market of Russia, as excise taxes there have increased almost three times.

Now it could suffer further as the new tax bill foresees a 25 percent export tax hike on beer.

The nation’s brewer said that the government’s hopes of boosting its revenues with a hike on the tax on beer would merely hit the profits of brewers, which in turn would reduce corporate tax receipts.

Still, the brewery in 2009 opened malting plants in two oblasts and launched three new beer sorts under the Zibert trademark in Fastiv, Kyiv Oblast whose facilities underwent large-scale remodeling, and received advanced boilers and bottling lines.

A member of parliament with the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense faction, Slobodyan is bent on regaining the number one position on the beer market.