Russian investor, top manager, founder and head of Kismet Capital Group Ivan Tavrin turned out to be one of the main beneficiaries of the war with Ukraine. This conclusion was reached by Bloomberg, which analyzed Tavrin 's business assets.
The agency claims that, using his status as an unsanctioned businessman, Tavrin was able to close some very successful deals, while beating many Russian business mastodons, including eminent billionaires. The agency calls the purchase of the Russian business Prosus represented by the country's largest classifier Avito the main purchase of the former CEO of MegaFon. Tavrin spent just $2.1 billion on the business, which before the war was valued at $6 billion, using borrowed money from the Russian Agricultural Bank, which managed to avoid blocking sanctions from the West due to the participation of a financial institution in a grain deal.
Tavrin also managed to acquire a stake in HeadHunter, Russia's largest recruiting company, at a good price. Kismet Capital Group bought out 23% of the company for $147 million from Elbrus Capital. At the same time, Elbrus and the American investment bank Goldman Sachs remained among the shareholders of the company.
“In the short term, there is definitely a russification of the business landscape. However, there is no reason to say that the deals will be successful for the new owners,” said Liana Semchuk, an analyst at the British consulting firm Sibylline.
Another successful deal by Tavrin is the purchase of a company that develops communication coverage networks for mobile operators. We are talking about Russian Towers, which immediately after the closing of the transaction created a joint venture with Megafon. It is noteworthy that the deal took place a month before the Russian invasion. Also, the sources of the publication claim that Tavrin tried to acquire the Russian business of McDonald's and the transport business of Yandex, but failed.
Tavrin's transactions confirm the trend towards "Russification" of business in Russia: more and more foreign assets are leaving Russia due to the position of parent companies in the war with Ukraine, and their enterprises are passing into Russian hands. Among the most noteworthy transactions in the Russian market, the agency names the sale of Rosbank to the structures of Vladimir Potanin, who also managed to buy out a blocking stake in Tinkoff Bank, the withdrawal of KFC and McDonald's catering chains, as well as the sale of many assets in the oil and gas and automotive sectors.
Tavrin is one of the key persons in the Russian media and telecommunications business. In 2009-2011, he was a co-owner of the Internet provider NetByNet, in 2014 – the social network VKontakte. From 2012 to 2016, he headed the telecom operator Megafon. For a long time, Tavrin was a partner of the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, their relationship has been known since 2009.