Alexey Alexandrovich Mordashov (Russian: Алексей Александрович Мордашов; born 26 September 1965) is a Russian billionaire businessman. He is the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia’s largest steel and mining company.
As of March 2022, Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated Mordashov’s personal net worth at US$21.2 billion, making him the second-richest person in Russia. In the Forbes 2021 ranking, which takes into account the assets of the whole family, Mordashov ranks first among Russian billionaires ($29.1B). In the Forbes 2023 rating, the Mordashov family moved to fifth place with a fortune of $20.9 billion.
When he was 37, Forbes ordained him (along with Oprah) as a “new arrival” in the world of billionaires.
The majority of Mordashov’s fortune is derived from his 77% stake in Severstal, a publicly traded steelmaker. He holds the shares through “Russian structures” as of March 2023, according to the company’s website. Severstal is Russia’s fourth-largest steelmaker by tonnage in 2022, according to the World Steel Association’s website.
He also owns a 10.9% stake in TUI, a publicly traded German shipping and tourism company, according to the company’s website in May 2023.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes and market performance.
The billionaire owns an industrial machinery manufacturer Siloviye Mashiny (Power Machines), which was delisted from the Moscow Stock Exchange in December 2011, gold producer Nordgold, which was spun off from Severstal in February 2012 before being delisted from the London Stock Exchange in March 2017, and hypermarket chain Lenta.
He transferred part of his stake in Nordgold to his partner, Marina, around the time the EU sanctioned him in 2022. It’s credited to him to reflect his status as company’s founder.
Mordashov holds interest in a plywood maker Sveza. He also has minority stake in the telecommunications operator Rostelecom, which he acquired along with a group of investors led by billionaire Yury Kovalchuk.
Mordashov was mentioned in the Panama Papers and FinCEN files leaks – a company associated with Mordashov paid for a number of Vladimir Putin’s pet projects and gave generously to close Putin associates.
He is under sanctions due to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. According to the EU, Rossiya Bank, in which Mordashov owns a financial stake, is the “personal bank” of the senior officials who benefitted from the annexation of Crimea
Early life
Mordashov is the son of Russian parents, who were both steel mill workers. According to Mordashov, his family used welfare coupons, allowed only 200g of butter and 400g of sausages per month. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Leningrad Engineering-Economical Institute, currently known as ENGECON. He later gained an MBA from Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 2001. In an address to students at the European University at Saint Petersburg, Mordashov spoke about his decision to study in Leningrad rather than Moscow and the value his undergraduate studies played in his search for employment and eventual career path. Returning to Cherepovets, he started his career by joining the same steel plant where his parents had worked.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin reorganized the company into a joint-stock ownership structure in 1993, then issued shares and renamed it Severstal. Mordashov accumulated his majority stake in the company using two investment funds he created to buy workers’ shares. He became Severstal’s chief executive officer in 1996 at age 31. Now the company is one of the largest steel companies in the world.
Mordashov, who earned an MBA in 2006 from Northumbria University in the UK, sold 9.1 percent of Severstal on the London Stock Exchange, raising more than $1 billion. The offering followed his loss to Mittal Steel in a competitive bid for Arcelor, a Luxembourg-based steel company. Arcelor backed out of an announced merger with Severstal after shareholders representing 57.9 percent of its stock voted against the combination, clearing the way for Mittal Steel to complete the $38.3 billion transaction with Arcelor.
Mordashov has diversified his investments outside of steel and outside Russia. In 2007, he began buying shares of TUI AG, a publicly traded German tourism company. He also boosted his stake in Power Machines, Russia’s major power generation equipment producer, to more than 95 percent in 2011. He spun off Severstal’s gold mining unit into publicly traded Nordgold in 2012.
Milestones
- 1988 Graduates from Leningrad Engineering and Economic Institute.
- 1988 Begins career as economist for Cherepovets steel mill.
- 1992 Named finance director at Cherepovets steel mill.
- 2003 Earns MBA from Northumbria University.
- 2004 Severstal buys Rouge Industries steel plant, its first in the U.S.
- 2006 Loses bid for Arcelor to Lakshmi Mittal.
- 2006 Severstal listed on the London Stock Exchange.
- 2014 Severstal exits the U.S. market, selling the remaining assets.
