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Dmitry Yevgenyevich Rybolovlev

ProfileDmitry Yevgenyevich Rybolovlev

Dmitry Yevgenyevich Rybolovlev (Russian: Дмитрий Евгеньевич Рыболовлев, IPA: [ˈdmʲitrʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ rɨbɐˈlovlʲɪf]; born 22 November 1966) is a Russian oligarchbillionaire businessman, and investor.

Rybolovlev became chairman of the Russian fertilizer producer Uralkali in 1995. In 2010, he sold his majority share of Uralkali to three Kremlin-linked oligarchs for $6.5 billion. As of 2021, Rybolovlev had a reported net worth of $6.7 billion, which ranked him 391st on Forbes‘s list of billionaires.

In 2011, he became the majority owner and President of Monaco‘s football club AS Monaco. He is one of the alleged victims of Swiss art transporter Yves Bouvier as part of The Bouvier Affair.

His hobbies include sailing where his yachts named Skorpis race competitively winning the ClubSwan 50 World Championship and taking line honour in the 2021 Fastnet Race sailing his ClubSwan 125.

Rybolovlev sold two Russian fertilizer producers for more than $7 billion in 2010 and 2011. He also sold almost $1 billion of Uralkali stock at the company’s 2007 initial public offering and bought a collection of art, jewelry, homes, yachts as well as stakes in the Bank of Cyprus and the AS Monaco football club.

The majority of Rybolovlev’s fortune is derived from his sale of two Russian fertilizer companies, Uralkali and Silvinit. He sold $950 million of Uralkali stock during the company’s initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 2007. He then sold his remaining stake in Uralkali and 20% of Silvinit for more than $7 billion in 2010 and 2011. He sold a 50% interest in Kama Oil to Russia’s oil producer Lukoil for $400 million in May 2013.

Ownership of the closely held businesses wasn’t disclosed prior to the above sales. It’s assumed in this analysis that they were fully-owned by the billionaire because there’s no indication he had outside partners.

Rybolovlev acquired a 10% stake in publicly traded Bank of Cyprus in 2010 and holds less than 1% stake now, according to his representative. He bought a 67% stake in the AS Monaco soccer team in 2011, according to an official press release. It’s valued using the average of enterprise value-to-sales, enterprise value-to-Ebitda multiples of two publicly traded peer companies: Manchester United and Ajax. The team is held in trust for his daughter.

The value of the billionaire’s art, yachts, homes and jewelry is based on testimony made by Rybolovlev and his wife, Elena, during their divorce proceedings, as well as British Virgin Islands court fillings served in March 2015 by trusts of his daughters against art dealer Yves Bouvier.

A Geneva court ordered him to pay $4.5 billion to settle the divorce in May 2014. The award was slashed to $605 million in June 2015. He and wife announced an amicable divorce settlement in October 2015.

Philanthropy

Rybolovlev provided financial assistance to the reconstruction of Saint Petersburg‘s Oranienbaum Palace, as well as to the restoration of the Conception Convent (also known as Zachatyevsky Monastery) in Moscow. He donated €17.5 million for the re-building of the Cathedral of Nativity of Theotokos in Moscow, and was involved in the restoration of several icon paintings in the Cathedral of Exaltation of the Cross recreated in Belogorsk Saint Nicolas Monastery. He donated funds for the construction of the Russian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas in Limassol, Cyprus.

In 2010, Rybolovlev was awarded the Order of St Seraphim of Sarov I degree by Patriarch Kirill for funding the restoration of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God in Zachatyevsky Convent.

In April 2020, Rybolovlev made a donation in the amount of 80 million rubles (more than $1 million) through his “Financial house” investment company to the Perm Territory Charitable Foundation to fight the coronavirus.

In October 2020, Rybolovlev announced he would donate €250,000 to help rebuild the pitch of Saint-Martin-Vésubie, which was destroyed during Storm Alex. The donation follows a letter written by local 11 year old twins to Rybolovlev asking for financial help for a stadium where ASM’s academy spends a period of their pre-season on a yearly basis.

In November 2021, Rybolovlev’s family charitable foundation was founded in Lefkada (Greece) to support his philanthropic activities in the region.

In 2022, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it was announced by AS Monaco that the club and Rybolovlev, in a personal capacity, donated to the Monegasque Red Cross to support its efforts of delivering humanitarian aid to civilian victims of the conflict.

In April 2023, a new emergency department was opened at the Princess Grace Hospital Center, fully funded by Rybolovlev for a total of 1.8 million euros. The new building combines adult and pediatric emergency departments in one location with a dedicated technical platform and a versatile care team, while maintaining a pediatric specialization.

Biography

Education: Perm Medical Institute

Dmitry Rybolovlev was born in Perm, Russia, to a family of doctors, in 1966. He was an avid reader as a youth, and was particularly affected by Theodore Dreiser’s Trilogy of Desire, a story about a streetcar tycoon in Chicago. He attended the Perm Medical Institute and upon graduation in 1990 began working in the cardiology department of a local emergency room. In the declining economy after the fall of the Soviet Union, he started providing magnetic therapy for corporate clients, using a treatment method developed by his father.

Forced to barter with his cash-strapped patients, he created a side business selling the goods he received for his medical services. He later moved to Moscow, got a brokerage license, and opened a trading firm in Perm in 1992. His first clients were his former patients. Two years later he founded a bank and began to buy shares in a number of local firms. He invested in fertilizer maker Uralkali in early 1990s, eventually building up a stake of about 80 percent.

Rybolovlev’s interest in the company was valued below $100 million in 2000. Seven years later, the company sold shares in an initial public offering in London bringing him almost $1 billion. He sold the rest of his shares and his 20 percent stake in fertilizer company Silvinit, within four years, collecting more than $7 billion.

Fearing for the safety of his family in the violent post-Soviet business environment, he sent his wife and daughter to live in Switzerland while he remained in Russia. He was arrested in 1996 and charged with initiating a contract killing, and was released after almost a year in prison when the actual culprits were found. He was acquitted in 1997.

His wife, Elena, a former colleague in medical school, sued him for divorce in Geneva in 2008, seeking $6 billion. Disputed in the suit was an art collection valued at more than $500 million, an $80 million yacht, $36 million in jewelry, homes in New York, Monaco and Palm Beach, and bank accounts in Cyprus, the UK, Switzerland, the US and the British Virgin Islands. A Geneva court awarded Rybolovleva the equivalent of half his fortune in May 2014. The award was slashed to $605 million in June 2015 and was appealed. He and wife announced amicable divorce settlement in October 2015.

Rybolovlev lives in Monaco. He owns a majority stake in the AS Monaco soccer team.

Milestones

  • 1966 Dmitry Evgenievich Rybolovlev born in Perm, Russia.
  • 1990 Graduates from Perm Medical Institute.
  • 1992 Opens an investment company in Perm.
  • 1995 Takes controlling stake in fertilizer producer Uralkali.
  • 2010 Unloads 53.2 percent stake in Uralkali for $4.5 billion.
  • 2014 Geneva court orders him to pay ex-wife $4.5 billion in divorce settlement.
  • 2015 Files a complaint against his art dealer for fraud.
  • 2015 He and wife announce amicable divorce settlement.

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