Aven Pyotr Olegovich

Aven Pyotr Olegovich

Peter Aven - Russian statesman, entrepreneur, Member of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfa-Bank Banking Group since June 2011. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfa-Insurance.

Aktivs

As of June 2010, it owned 7.021% of the telecommunications holding Altimo and 13.8% of the shares of ABH Holdings, which combines the financial and oil assets of Alfa-Group (including Alfa-Bank).

State

He took 28th place in the ranking of the Russian-language version of Forbes "The Richest Businessmen of Russia - 2011"^[1]. The fortune of Peter Aven is estimated at $4.5 billion.

Since 2006, he has owned the former Guinness family villa, built in Sardinia in the 1960s.

Biography

Graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University. In 1980 he received the degree of candidate of economic sciences.

In 1989-1991 worked at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Laxenburg, Austria). Prior to that, he served as a senior researcher at the All-Russian Research Institute of Systems Research of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

1991: First Deputy Foreign Minister

In 1991, he joined the government of Yegor Gaidar as First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In 1992, he headed the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations of the Russian Federation and was the representative of the President of the Russian Federation for relations with industrially developed countries (G7).

In March 1993, he created the consulting company Finance of Peter Aven (FinPA), which was involved in accompanying transactions with external debts.

1994: President of Alfa-Bank

From 1994 to June 2011, he served as President of Alfa Bank. He was responsible for the overall development strategy of the bank and for maintaining ties with business and government circles in Russia and abroad.

Peter Aven explains to Leonid Parfenov why the default "crept up unnoticed"

In 2007, he was elected head of the Russian-Latvian Business Council.

Professor at the Higher School of Economics (State University - Higher School of Economics). The author of numerous scientific papers and publications on trade and economic development. He often gives lectures in Russia and abroad on the country's economic development.

Member of the Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, member of the Presidium of the Russian Council on International Affairs (RSDM), member of the Council of the National Organization for Financial Reporting Standards.

He is a trustee of the Russian School of Economics and the Center for Economic Policy (CEPR), UK; member of the Board of Trustees of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, member of the Executive Committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU).

He actively supports art and theater in Russia, is the largest collector of works of Russian art at the beginning of the twentieth century.

2021: British publisher apologizes for Peter Aven's accusations of "KGB ties"

The British publishing house HarperCollins, which released the book Putin's People by journalist Catherine Belton in the spring of 2020, apologized to Russian bankers Mikhail Fridman and Peter Aven for not asking for their comment before the release of the work, thereby avoiding a number of inaccuracies contained in it, namely statements about ties with the KGB. The publishing house published the corresponding statement on August 3, 2021 on its website as part of the judicial reconciliation of the parties.

2022

Resignation from the Board of Directors of Alfa-Bank

On March 1, 2022, Alfa-Bank announced the upcoming changes in the board of directors. In the near future, Mikhail Fridman, Peter Aven, Alexander Galitsky and Sergey Matsotsky will leave its composition. Read more here.

Falling under the sanctions of Britain

Peter Aven, who fell under British sanctions against the background of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, said in March 2022 that his business, which he had been building for 30 years, had been completely destroyed. He has nothing to pay a personal driver in London and his stepdaughter will drive. Despite the sanctions, he does not intend to leave.

Criminal case in Britain for violation of sanctions and confiscation of 30 thousand pounds in cash

In May 2022, it became known that Peter Aven, who lives in Britain, is accused of violating the sanctions imposed on him by the local authorities, and a criminal case has been opened against him.

A few days later, in the house of Peter Aven in Britain, the businessman confiscated 30 thousand pounds in cash, writes Bloomberg. He is only allowed to spend £2,500 a month. Aven owns the £8m Ingliston House mansion in Virginia Water in Sarray County.

Transfer of 34% of Anna Money fintech service to its founders

On August 9, 2022, it became known about the transfer of the share of billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Peter Aven in Anna Money to the co-founders of this British fintech startup Boris Dyakonov and Eduard Panteleev. The latter told Bloomberg that this deal opens up new opportunities for Anna Money in terms of the future of the business. Read more here.

Unlocking £1m in Britain

In October 2022, the British authorities allowed to "unfreeze" a million pounds from the accounts of Peter Aven to pay debts and carry out everyday expenses.

11th place in the list of CNews of the richest signalmen in Russia

In the ranking of the operators Russia richest for 2022, according to CNews Peter Aven took 11th place.

Peter Aven entered the CNews ratings for many years due to his participation in Alpha Groups. In 2015, he was in eighth place in the CNews ranking. In the early 90s, Aven was the Minister of Foreign Economic Relations of Russia and was a member of the cabinet of the reformer Yegor Gaidar. Then Aven moved to Alfa Group and for a long time headed Alfa Bank, owned by the group.

Working as a minister, Aven met the future president of Russia, Vladimir Putin who then headed the committee on foreign economic relations. St. Petersburg This acquaintance was subsequently useful to Aven, who began to help Alfa Group in cooperation state with the authorities. In 2003, the group received an informal sanction from the Russian authorities to acquire a stake in the mobile operator "," Megaphone which was considered a fiefdom close to Putin. In Minister of Communications Leonid Reiman 2005, Putin asked then-Prime Minister Turkey Recep Erdogan to help Alfa Group acquire a stake in the country's largest cellular operator. Turkcell

As a top manager of Alfa Group, he has a stake in the group and in the investment company LetterOne, which it created in 2013. She, in turn, owns the telecommunications group Veon. In recent years, Aven moved away from doing business in the direction of philanthropy and charity: he moved to London, received Latvian citizenship, created the Generation charitable foundation for the development of Russian-Latvian relations, collected a collection of Russian painting, etc.

However, everything "turned upside down" after the start of the SVO. Aven, together with the three founders of Alfa Group - Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev - fell under sanctions in the European Union and Great Britain. After that, the British authorities significantly limited Aven in possible spending. Like Friedman, Aven complained that he had nothing to hire a cleaner for his London estate. He also lost the opportunity to hire a driver, despite the fact that the entrepreneur himself does not drive the car^[2].

2023: Inclusion in the sanctions list by the US Treasury

On August 11, 2023, it became known that US Treasury he included Alpha Group Peter Aven,,, and in the sanctions list Mikhail Fridman. Herman Hana Alexey Kuzmichev Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs

2024

Sale of a stake in an investment company A1

On March 18, 2024, it became known that businessmen Mikhail Fridman, Peter Aven, German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev sold their shares in A1, the investment division of Alfa Group. The transaction cost amounted to 100 thousand rubles. Read more here.

EU court rules to lift personal sanctions against Peter Aven

In April 2024, an EU court decided to lift personal sanctions against Russian entrepreneurs Peter Aven and Mikhail Fridman.

Awards

He was awarded the state award of the Russian Federation - the Order of Honor, awarded a number of international awards.

Painting Collection

Peter Aven owns the largest collection of Russian painting in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century and constantly replenishes it. One of the most valuable paintings of the collection is a portrait of Velimir Khlebnikov, painted by Mikhail Larionov in 1910. The billionaire has replenished the collection with masterpieces by Konstantin Korovin, Peter Konchalovsky, Mark Chagall, Vasily Kandinsky, Boris Kustodiev, Robert Falk and Aristarchus Lentulov. The works were exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery, the Jewish Museum in Moscow, the Tate Gallery in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2020, Forbes estimated the cost of the collection at at least $500 million.

2021: Plan to export the collection to Latvia

In March 2021, it became known that Peter Aven was exporting from Russia the country's largest collection of Russian art of the 20th century and would place it in his museum in Latvia. To do this, he bought a building in the center of Riga on the street. Valdemara, d. 19.

Aven stated that Latvia is the birthplace of his grandfather, and the family spends a lot of time here.

"And I hope that the conceived museum, its permanent exhibition and exhibitions held in it will make a significant contribution to Latvian cultural life, make Latvia more recognizable in the world and increase tourist interest in Latvia and Riga," the portal quoted him as saying.

2022: France confiscated Peter Aven's painting of Peter Konchalovsky

In early April 2022, the canvas of Pyotr Konchalovsky's work "Self-Portrait in Gray," owned by Russian billionaire Pyotr Aven, was confiscated by decision of the French authorities as part of anti-Russian sanctions.

The canvas was leased to the Louis Vuitton Foundation for the exhibition - Icons of Modern Art, which took place in Paris from September 22, 2021 to April 3, 2022. The French Ministry of Economy and Finance told Bloomberg that this is the third confiscation of works of art in the state since the beginning of Russia's military operation in Ukraine.

France confiscated Peter Aven's painting "Self-portrait in gray" by Peter Konchalovsky

According to Bloomberg, French officials are considering the fate of another fragment of the show owned by a private fund associated with another oligarch who has just come under sanctions. The publication service identified the oligarch as Vyacheslav Kantor Vladimirovich.

The paintings were removed on April 5, 2022 after the end of the exhibition for their planned return to the relevant credit institutions, Bloomberg reported. The third canvas is a portrait of Timofey Morozov by Valentin Serov. This work for April 2022 belongs to the Dnipropetrovsk Museum. The French authorities do not want to return it because of the situation in Ukraine.

The publication notes that the rest of the collection of about 200 paintings is exhibited in Paris, including canvases by Paul Gauguin, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard and Vincent van Gogh, are not affected by the sanctions actions and will be returned to Russia until early May 2022.

According to Bloomberg, the reports of French publications contradict the statements of the European authorities, as well as the organizers of the exhibition. The Louis Vuitton Foundation, which organized an exhibition with the participation of paintings from the collection of Russian oligarchs, promised to return the canvases in Russia. In addition, the European Commission at the end of March 2022 argued that museum exhibits should not be included in the sanctions list of goods.^[3]

Family

• Wife Irina Aven.
• Daughter Daria Aven.
• Son Denis Aven.

Notes