Rinat Leonidovich Akhmetov – businessman, billionaire, banker, People’s Deputy of Ukraine from the “Party of Regions” of the V and VI convocations, president of FC “Shakhtar” (1996 – present).
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on September 21, 1966 in Donetsk.
In 2001, Akhmetov completed his studies at Donetsk National University with a degree in marketing.
Career
The first entry in the employment record book appeared in 1995. He served as a manager at Dongorbank.
On October 15, 1996, after the death of Akhat Bragin on October 11, 1995, Akhmetov became the president of the Shakhtar football club.
Political Activities
During the presidential elections of 2004, he openly supported the then Prime Minister of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.
Akhmetov was a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, being a member of the Party of Regions faction. In the parliament of the V convocation, he took seventh place in the electoral list in the elections of 2006, as well as in the list in the elections to the parliament of the VI convocation in 2007.
Business
In 1995, Akhmetov initiated the creation of the Donetsk City Bank “Dongorbank” and headed it.
In 2000, he founded System Capital Management (SCM), and on April 7, 2009, he became its sole shareholder.
SCM owns controlling stakes in more than 500 enterprises operating in various sectors of the economy, including mining, metallurgy, energy, telecommunications, transport, banking, media, agriculture and real estate. The company is one of the largest investors in the Ukrainian economy. For example, in 2013, SCM enterprises provided 3.9% of Ukraine’s GDP.
The assets of the SCM group include numerous enterprises, including:
- “Metinvest”;
- DTEK;
- Ukrtelecom;
- “ESTA Holding” (owns, in particular, the Kyiv Central Department Store)
- First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB);
- HarvEast;
- “Lemtrans”;
- “Portinvest”.
Until July 2022, Akhmetov was also the owner of Media Group Ukraine, which united the TV channels Ukraine and Ukraine 24, the Football sports channel network, the Segodnya newspaper, and other media assets. However, in July 2022, he announced his withdrawal from the media business, explaining this by the adoption of the law on oligarchs.
Akhmetov is the largest individual income tax payer, and his businesses provide some of the highest tax revenues to the state budget. In 2011, it topped the ranking of taxpayers among individuals, paying UAH 67.8 million, and maintained this position in subsequent years, in particular, for the period 2012-2014 it paid a total of UAH 379.8 million.
In 2018, SCM companies transferred UAH 90.2 billion to the budget of Ukraine, which amounted to 22.6% of all revenues to the state treasury.
Marital Status
He is married to Lilia Nikolaevna Smirnova, who heads the audit commission of CJSC “SCM”. He has two sons.
