Leonid Mikhelson Net Worth & Biography

Russian businessman Leonid Mikhelson currently serves as the chairperson and chief executive officer of the Russian-based gas company Novatek. Leonid Mikhelson’s net worth has witnessed a significant increment in recent years thanks to his triumphs and the solid performance of petrochemical producer and distributor Sibur Holding, where he holds a large stake together with business tycoon Gennady Timchenko. CEO Leonid is the largest shareholder of First United Bank. He owns 25 percent of the stake of Novatek, and that alone is enough to establish him as the largest shareholder in the company.

It was in 1987 that he took over Novatek which was then focused on the building of roads, industrial facilities, and pipelines. When he had acquired the company and reorganized it, he started earning oil and gas production licenses and eventually turned it into one of the biggest names in the Russian business industry. Asides from his roles in business, this Russian billionaire businessman and chief executive officer of a highly reputed conglomerate is also known to have a strong interest in art. In fact, most of his interest is in contemporary and Russian art, and he even established his own foundation, named the V-A-C Foundation, which focuses on and promotes contemporary Russian art. More details follow below.

Early Life: Childhood, Education

He was born Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson on the 11th of August 1955, in Kaspiysk, Russia.

He graduated from the Samara Institute of Civil Engineering in 1977 with a degree in Industrial Civil Engineering.

Professional Life

Mr. Leonid Mikhelson began his career as an engineer once he had graduated from college. He joined a construction and assembling factory in the Tyumen area of Siberia and started working as a foreman. One of his initial projects was to work as an engineer on the Urengoi-Chelyabinsk gas pipeline.

In 1985, when he was 30 years old, Mr. Mikhelson became the chief engineer of Ryazantruboprovodstroy. Two years later, he was appointed the General Director of Kuibishevtruboprovodstroy. He continued to serve as the managing director of the company, which was later renamed NOVA, until October 1994 when he went on to take up the role of general director of its holding company, Novafinivest, which was later renamed Novatek.

From 2008 until 2010, Mikhelson served as the chairman of the board of directors for OOO Art Finance and OAO Stroytransgaz. He is the current chairman of the board of directors at ZAO SIBUR. Likewise, he also serves on the Supervisory Board of OAO Russian Regional Development Bank.

As already established, Mr. Leonid Mikhelson has a strong interest in art, especially Russian and contemporary art, which he has stated that he has 99 percent of his interest in. To buttress his point, the business magnate went on to found a foundation named the V-A-C Foundation. His foundation mainly promotes contemporary Russian art and currently has international ties with London’s Whitechapel Gallery, the New Museum in New York, and the Tate museums in the UK.

Personal Life

Leonid Mikhelson is married and has two children. He lives with his family in Moscow, Russia.

His daughter Victoria attended New York University and London’s Courtauld Institute where she studied art history. His foundation, VAC Foundation Victoria, is named after her. He owns artwork by artists like Olafur Eliasson, Christopher Wool, and Gerhard Richter.

Mr. Mikhelson is one of many Russian businessmen and oligarchs listed in the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act signed into law in 2017 by former US President Donald Trump.

Leonid Mikhelson Net Worth

An engineer and businessman by profession, Mr. Leonid Mikhelson has built a fortune of 20 billion dollars in his lifetime. His financial standing makes him one of the wealthiest people in Russia. After years of working as a foreman and engineer at a few companies and for a number of projects, he took over as manager of a company which he renamed Novatek, and shepherded it through a phase of restructuring that expanded its areas of concern to include oil and gas production, pipeline laying, roadwork construction, and other endeavors. The company witnessed exponential growth in the following years under his administration, and its success handed the businessman a bulk of the wealth he enjoys nowadays. Though he eventually sold 20 percent of the company, he still holds a majority interest and continues to serve as the company’s chief executive officer. In addition to his roles at Novatek, Mr. Leonid owns nearly 75% of the bank Samara-JSC, in addition to a controlling stake in chemical company Sibur, among other investments.