Ivanishvili Boris (Bidzina) Grigoryevich

Ivanishvili Boris (Bidzina) Grigoryevich

Boris Ivanishvili is a Georgian and Russian entrepreneur, owner of Unikor Management Company.

Aktivs

The enterprises supervised by Unicor successfully operate in such segments of the economy as development, financial business, collective investment management, agriculture and pharmaceutical retail.

State

It ranks 25th in the ranking of the Russian-language version of Forbes "The Richest Businessmen of Russia - 2011"^[1]. Boris Ivanishvili's fortune is estimated at $5.5 billion.

Biography

Education

In 1980 he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Engineering and Economics of Tbilisi State University.

In 1986, he graduated from the graduate school of the Research Institute of Labor in Moscow. Candidate of Sciences^[2].

Career

After graduating from graduate school, he worked as a senior researcher at the branch of the Research Institute of Labor in Tbilisi.

In the late 1980s, he created a cooperative for the production of reinforced hoses at the Foundry and Mechanical Plant named after Kamo, then traded in computers in Tbilisi and Moscow.

1988-1990 - Deputy Head of the Department of the All-Union Center for Commercial Information (WCC) of the Federation of Non-Professional Filmmakers of the Society of Friends of Cinema (Moscow).

In 1990, he became the founder of the Agroprogress production cooperative.

Since 1990, he held various positions up to the president in the independently founded bank "Russian Credit" (Moscow).

Since 1990 - Member of the Board of Directors of Russian Credit Bank.

Since 1992 - Member of the Board of Directors of MarkPaulBank JSCB (Moscow).

Since May 1995 - General Director of Infintrade LLP. He was the founder of Triada-1 LLP, which owned a stake in Lebedinsky GOK JSC.

In 1997, he created the holding company Metalloinvest to manage industrial assets and real estate.

In 2000 - First Deputy General Director of OJSC [Stoilensky Mining and Processing Plant (SGOK)|Stoilensky GOK]].

In 2002 he created a network of pharmacies "Doctor Stoletov."

From November 2003 to May 2006 - Member of the Board of Directors of CB Impexbank OJSC.

In 2004, asset management functions were transferred to Unicore Management Company.

In 2005, he sold Mikhailovsky GOK to Alisher Usmanov and Vasily Anisimov for $1.65 billion.

2012: Creation of the Georgian Dream Party

In October 2011, he announced his intention to create a party and take part in the parliamentary elections in Georgia in 2012^[3] Russian ^[3].

At the end of February 2012, a new political coalition officially appeared in Georgia. Entrepreneur and opposition leader Boris Ivanishvili presented the Georgian Dream.

Ivanishvili told what "Georgian Dream" is

2015: Bank Asset Manager Credit Suisse embezzles Ivanishvili with €100m

In 2015, Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili complained about the Swiss bank Credit Suisse (then Ivanishvili kept about $800 million there): according to him, the bank not only manages assets poorly, but also directly deceives customers.

In early 2016, he filed a claim for losses due to the actions of Patrice Lescodron, and then a lawsuit against Credit Suisse itself - the businessman claimed that the bank was laundering money.

According to Le Temps, the Credit Suisse manager did not have much experience in asset management, and received large clients from Russia and Georgia thanks to his knowledge of the Russian language. The manager invested the money of Russian clients in the shares of the Austrian holding Meinl European Land, and when in 2007 they collapsed, he lied to clients that he had left the position before the shares fell, Le Temps wrote. According to the publication, in order to cover the losses of two Russian clients, he took money from Ivanishvili's accounts, and in order to cover the minus on the billionaire's account, he made large investments in Gazprom without his permission.

In court, Lescodron admitted that he transferred money from Ivanishvili's accounts to the accounts of other clients in order to cover losses from unsuccessful investments. For this he was convicted.

In November 2019, Bidzina Ivanishvili said in an interview with Bloomberg that he did not expect fraudulent actions from the Swiss bank Credit Suisse, after which he lost $140 million. He stated that he had not even met such behavior in "wild, wild Russia and in Georgian banks" in the 90s of the XX century. This is Ivanishvili's first detailed public statement about this case.

Ivanishvili said that the bank's manager, Patrice Leskodron, convicted of fraud (he managed the investment portfolio of the Georgian billionaire) is not the only one worth attracting for money laundering.

'Within a few years I had three people coming to me and making false statements about my balance. It is impossible for one person to be able to do this all (fraud with customer funds. - The Bell) to turn, and if he could, then this is not a bank, "Ivanishvili said.

He also said that he was disappointed with how he was treated in a Swiss bank, even compared to the unstable situation in Russian banking in the 1990s. "I didn't experience anything like what I saw in Credit Suisse," Ivanishvili explained.

The bank has repeatedly stated that they were not aware of the actions of the hired manager. It follows from Ivanishvili's new statement that at least two more bank employees knew about the fraud.

Ivanishvili said in an interview that he is still suing the bank for the return of lost money - this is about $100 million in unauthorized transfers and "stolen assets."

"No matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, I am not going to retreat," the billionaire said. At the same time, according to Ivanishvili, it's "not about money" (he stressed that he has more than enough of it), but "in principle."

2022

Credit Suisse's $0.5bn Bermuda trial win

In March 2022, Bidzina Ivanishvili won a trial against Credit Suisse in Bermuda. The bank will have to pay about $500 million. The Georgian billionaire claims he lost money over the actions of a former bank manager and is suing Credit Suisse in several countries.

Freeze £2.7bn at Credit Suisse on grounds funds may be of Russian origin

In August 2022, it became known that Credit Suisse Bank froze 2.7 billion pounds owned by Bidzina Ivanishvili, on the basis that the funds may be of Russian origin. The funds of many Russians were frozen after the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine.

2023

Beating Credit Suisse and getting $210 million from the bank

In February 2023, Credit Suisse paid $210 million to Georgia's richest billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. The businessman has sued one of the biggest Swiss banks since 2016, claiming he lost hundreds of millions of dollars over the actions of one of the managers.

Singapore court win against Credit Suisse

In May 2023, Credit Suisse lost a case in a Singapore court against Bidzina Ivanishvili, compensation could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The court estimated his damages at US $926 million, a figure he then revised downward by US $79.4 million, noting that this amount could be changed further "to prevent double recovery."

Singapore-based Credit Suisse Trust Ltd. breached its obligations to the plaintiffs by failing to secure trust assets, the court ruling said.

2024: Georgia's "puppeteer" Ivanishvili turns to face Moscow - FT

Oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili seeks to return the Caucasian country to the orbit of Russia, the FT wrote in May 2024.

Family

• Wife Ekaterina Khvedelidze.
• The son of Uta Ivanishvili.
• The son of Bera Ivanishvili.
• Son of Tsotne Ivanishvili.
• Daughter of Gvantsa Ivanishvili.

Interesting facts

Owns a large collection of paintings. The most expensive painting is "Dora Maar with a Cat" by Pablo Picasso (bought in 2006 at Sotheby's for $95 million). One of the favorite artists is Willem de Kooning.

Notes