About Gennady Timchenko
Gennady Timchenko is 66 years old prominent Russian businessman who is known for being the founder of Volga Group and co-owner of Gunvor Group. He is also the president of SKA Saint Petersburg ice hockey club and the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kontinental Hockey League. Gennady even made it to the list of billionaires in Forbes magazine in 2014 getting the 62nd rank.
Early Life
Gennady was born on 9th November, 1952 in Leninakan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union as Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko in the family of a Soviet militant father who fought in World War II with Russian forces. He was raised in Ukraine and East Germany attending Mechanical Institute of Saint Petersburg in 1976 and getting his graduation degree in electrical engineering. He also learnt German while attending German Democratic Republic as a child of age 6.
Career
Gennady started his career being an engineer at Izhorsk Plants, a Soviet builder of nuclear power reactors in St. Petersburg. He later joined Soviet Ministry of Foreign Trade after giving his
eight years to work in Izhorsk. Soon at age 36, he was appointed as deputy head of Kirishineftekhimexport, a state exporter of oil products to the West in 1988. He next joined Urals Finland in 1991 becoming its first deputy and CEO. This was also the time when Soviet Union was falling apart in early 1990s and he befriended Vladimir Putin, who was the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg at that time. In 2000, he decided to start his own oil trading company under name, Gunvor with a Swedish partner, Torbjorn Tornqvist. The company made profit by reporting $43 billion in revenue in its first financial disclosure. In 2011, the company acquired a petrochemical company named Sibur. He also formed a Luxembourg based investment company, Volga Resources to further acquire 5 percent of Russian gas producer Novatek for $460 million and join the company’s board. At present he holds 23.5 percent stake in Novatek with other holdings of 17 percent stake in Sibur, 80 percent in rail company Transoil and 63 percent stake in Russian construction company Stroytransgaz.
In 2014, he sold out 44 percent stakes to his co-partner in Gunvor Group before the US sanctions under which he got banned from entering in the United States freezing all his assets in United States.
Achievements
He has received the Legion of Honour, the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits.
Personal Life
He got married to Elena and is father of three children.
Net Worth
It is estimated to be around US $19.5 billion as on April 2019.
