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Murmansk oligarch takes 100% of Apatit

Apatit - soon under 100 percent control of senator and oligarch Andrey Guriev. Photo: phosagro.com

Russia’s strongman on fertilizers, Andrey Guriev, secures control over the last pieces of Apatit, one of the biggest companies in the Kola Peninsula.

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Guriev, who is also representing Murmansk Oblast in the Federation Council, is ready to cash out another two billion RUB (€47 million) for control over the apatite producer. From before, Guriev and his company Phosagro, has a controlling stake in Apatit. 

In September 2012, Phosagro won the tender on the privatization of a 26 percent stake in Apatit. Later the same year, the company further boosted its control over regional producer from 77,57 percent to 95,95 percent, Vedomosti reports. For the acquisitions, the company paid about 17 billion RUB.

With the additional 2 billion RUB share acquisition, Phosagro will increase its stake in Apatit to 100 percent.

Phosagro is fully controlled by Andrey Guriev together with two associates. Seven percent of the company is owned by Igor Antoshin, the Deputy Chair of the company. Another ten percent of Phosagro is owned by Vladimir Litvinenko, the rector of the Sankt Petersburg State Mining Institute. Litvinenko is for many years closely associated with President Vladimir Putin. Three times, in year 2000, 2004 and 2012, Litvinenko headed Putin’s election campaign in Sankt Petersburg.

As previously reported, the Apatit company has a long history of scandals and political intrigues. A 20 percent stake of the company was in 1994 bought by Menatep, the bank owned and controlled by Yukos owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky.  This deal became a centerpiece in the cases against Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, which ended with long prison sentences for both men. According to the state prosecutors, the stake was acquired illegally at a price far below the market value. The stake was formally returned to the state in 2009.