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Russia’s top privatization official has overseen a system that funneled major state assets to businessmen close to the Kremlin, including billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, the exiled investigative outlet The Insider reported [links to Russian article].
Vadim Yakovenko, head of the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo), has seen his role expand since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with the agency gaining control over assets abandoned by departing foreign companies and property seized by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
According to The Insider, one of the most notable sales occurred in 2024, when Rosimushchestvo sold Rosspirtprom, Russia’s largest alcohol producer, for 8 billion rubles ($104.8 million).
Industry analysts and market participants at the time described the price as significantly undervalued.
The buyer, a little-known firm called Biznes-Alyans, is 51% controlled by the Batman closed-end mutual fund managed by Fin-Partner.
While the Batman fund’s beneficiaries are not publicly disclosed, Rotenberg was the ultimate beneficiary of the deal, The Insider reported, citing internal financial documents that it obtained.
Rotenberg also acquired several chemical companies confiscated by the state, including Volzhsky Orgsintez, Metafrax Chemicals and the Dalnegorsky Mining and Processing Plant, earlier reporting by the exiled outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe said.
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