Vladimir Sergeyevich Lisin (born 7 May 1956) is a Russian billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and majority shareholder of Novolipetsk (NLMK), one of the four largest steel companies in Russia.
According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, in 2021 he was the richest man in Russia and 58th richest in the world with an estimated net worth of US$ 26.6 billion. In the 2023 Forbes rating, Lisin dropped to third place among Russian billionaires, losing to Andrey Melnichenko and Vladimir Potanin, his fortune is estimated at $ 22.1 billion.
Lisin is the chairman of Novolipetsk Steel, Russia’s largest steelmaker. The publicly traded company produced 15.7 million metric tons of crude steel and had $16.2 billion of revenue in 2021. He also owns Freight One, a rail freight operator in Russia; port facilities operator UCL Port; and shipping company VBTH.
The majority of Lisin’s fortune is derived from his 79.3% stake in Novolipetsk Steel, a publicly traded miner. The Lipetsk, Russia-based company exports steel to Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the US. Lisin owns the shares through Abu Dhabi-based special purpose vehicle Serenity II Holdings as of June 30, 2023, according to a Bloomberg News report. Novolipetsk Steel is Russia’s largest steelmaker by tonnage in 2022, according to the World Steel Association’s website.
Lisin parlayed dividends collected from Novolipetsk Steel into a $5.5 billion investment in transportation and shipping businesses. He owns Freight One, a rail freight operator in Russia; UCL Port, which has port facilities; and VBTH, which provides shipping, shipbuilding and tourist cruise services, according to Lisin’s press office. The valuation methodology for these companies can be found in the assets notes for each. Country risk discounts have been added where appropriate to capture the effect of western sanctions against Russia.
The value of his cash investments, which is calculated US dollars and not rubles, reflects the cost of acquiring Freight One, as well as an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes and market performance.
Background
Vladimir Lisin got his first job in 1975 working as a mechanic in a Soviet coalmine, and after studying at the Siberian Metallurgic Institute got a job working as a welder foreman at Tulachermet Metals Works. He rose through the ranks to become section manager, shop manager in 1979 and deputy chief engineer in 1986.
In 1992, he joined a group of traders (the Trans-World Group) who won control of Russia’s steel and aluminium industry. When the partners split in 2000, he received 13% of the firm and later achieved a controlling share. His former boss was named the Minister for Russian Metallurgy, and Lisin became the sole owner of Novolipetsk Steel in 2000.
Since 1993, he has been a board member of several Russian metal producers, including NLMK, MMK and Sayansk and Novokuznetsk Aluminium Plants and has been a member of the board of directors of Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) since 1996 and its chairman since 1998. He previously worked as deputy chief engineer and as deputy general director of the Karaganda Steel Plant, one of Kazakhstan‘s four largest steel plants.
Lisin was member of the board of directors of Zenit Bank. Lisin sits on the board of directors of the Novolipetskii Metallurgical Combine, one of largest steel companies in Russia, in 1998 and still holds that position. He is a director at CJSC Chernomorneftegaz. He was a Director of Norilsk Nickel Mining and Metallurgical Co. since 2002. He has been chairman of JSC Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Corporation (OJSC Novolipetsk Steel) since June 2007. He served as an independent member of the board of directors of OJSC United Shipbuilding Corporation in 2008–2012. Until January 2023, he was a member of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs bureau, but then left the post of his own free will.
His business interests, apart from steel, include transportation and logistics (with stakes in St Petersburg Sea Port, Tuapse Commercial Sea Port, North-Western Shipping Company, Volga Shipping Company), energy (stakes in Chernomorneftegaz and Severneftegaz), and utilities (Russian grid companies Federal Grid Company and Distribution Grid Company of Center). These predominantly Russian assets are controlled via Fletcher Group Holdings. In the summer of 2023, it became known that Lisin registered Serenity II Holdings and Nebula II Holdings in Abu Dhabi and transferred his assets there.
Education and Metallurgical expertise
He graduated from the Siberian Metallurgic Institute in 1979 with a metallurgical engineering diploma specialising in “Foundry of irons and non-ferrous metals”. In 1984 completed Postgraduate study in UKRNIIMET by correspondence (Kharkov, Ukraine). In 1989 he received an MSc in Metal Engineering from the Central Research Institute of ferrous metallurgy named after I. P. Bardin (Moscow). In 1990 he received a Diploma of the Higher commercial school under the All-Union Academy of Foreign Trade of People’s Friendship Order, the training program “Administration and activity management of joint ventures in the territory of the USSR” (Moscow). In 1992 an MSc in Economics and Management from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). In 1996 a Doctorate of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISiS), Faculty of engineering mechanics and in 1997 thesis for a Doctor’s degree in Metal Engineering. In 1999 was a professor at RANEPA and in 2005 received a doctorate in economics.
He holds various patents for metallurgical processes and has published over 100 articles on metallurgy and economics, which include 15 monographs. He is a professor of the Academy of National Economy and the holder of the Council of Ministers’ prize in the science and engineering (1989), the Honorary Metallurgist of Russia (1999), the Knight of the Order of Honour of the Russian Federation (2000) and the Knight of the Order of St. Sergiy Radonezhsky (2001)
Sports
Lisin is a shooting sports enthusiast. He was president of the European Shooting Confederation until October 2021, the Russia Shooting Union and has been appointed vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee. In 2013, Lisin was appointed as a member of the ISSF Executive Committee. He built one of Europe’s largest shooting-range complexes in Lisya Nora, near Moscow. In November 2018, Lisin was elected president of the International Shooting Sport Federation, and succeeded Olegario Vázquez Raña, who had served as president since 1980.
Lisin was sanctioned by Australia after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He resisted calls to step down as president, supported by the Russian-born ISSF Secretary General Alexander Ratner – who claimed that neither had any links to the Russian government.
Personal life
Lisin is married and has three children. According to Bloomberg L.P., Lisin bought the 17th-century Aberuchill Castle and its surrounding estate in Perthshire, Scotland in 2005.
Lisin was sanctioned by Australia after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022 Lisin called for a peaceful resolution in a letter to staff at NLMK, writing that “Lost lives are always a huge tragedy that is impossible to justify. I am convinced that peaceful diplomatic conflict resolution is always preferable to the use of force.” However, in September 2022 it was claimed that NLMK had supplied materials to Russian firms involved in nuclear weapon development, and that tankers owned by Lisin had participated in evading EU sanctions by trans-shipping oil at sea to EU-registered vessels. In October 2022, the US was urged to sanction Lisin
Milestones
- 1956 Vladimir Lisin is born in Ivanovo City, Russia.
- 1975 Starts career as electrical fitter in a Siberian coal mine.
- 1979 Graduates from Siberian Metallurgical Institute.
- 1997 Buys initial 13 percent stake in Novolipetsk Steel.
- 1998 Becomes chairman of Novolipetsk Steel.
- 2004 Accumulates about 90 percent in NLMK.
- 2004 Buys iron ore producer Stoylenski GOK and two seaports.
- 2005 Sells 7 percent stake in NLMK during public offering.
- 2012 Completes buy of Freight One rail cargo transportation firm for $5.5 billion.
