Suleyman Abusaidovich Kerimov (; ; born 12 March 1966) is a Russian billionaire, oligarch, philanthropist and politician of Lezgin descent. Kerimov maintains close ties to Vladimir Putin's administration in Russia, and formerly enjoyed a close relationship with Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman of Chechnya. More recently, Kerimov and Kadyrov have fallen out.
He entered politics in the 1990s. By 1999, he had gained control of Nafta Moskva, a former state oil trader. In the 2000s, Kerimov secured billions of dollars in loans from major Russian state‑owned banks, such as Sberbank and VTB. Through these loans, he acquired substantial stakes in Gazprom and Uralkali, as well as Sberbank. By 2008, his fortune had reached $21 billion, although by 2022 it had declined to $11 billion.
Since 2008, Kerimov has represented the Republic of Dagestan in the Federation Council of Russia.
In 2011, he bought the football club FC Anzhi Makhachkala, which subsequently made a series of high‑profile signings. The club acquired Samuel Eto'o, making him the highest‑paid player in the world. In 2013, Kerimov drastically and abruptly reduced the team's funding, leading to a firesale of players.
In April 2018, he was placed under sanctions by the United States Department of the Treasury. In the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kerimov was sanctioned as a Russian oligarch with close ties to President Putin by the US, the UK and the EU on 15 March 2022. Suleiman Kerimov has been the subject of scrutiny in the United States for a number of years.
In April 2022, Kerimov's son Said Kerimov resigned from the board of Polyus Gold and the family sold its stake in the company, valued at $6.3 billion, thereby relinquishing the position of majority shareholder.
Early life and education Kerimov was born on 12 March 1966 in Derbent, Dagestan, into a Dagestani Lezgin family, he belongs to the Lezgin sikhil (clan) Tvarkar. His ancestral village is said to be Karakyure in the Dokuzparinsky District. He graduated from high school in 1983 and subsequently enrolled in the Civil Engineering Department at the Dagestan Polytechnic Institute in 1984, although his obligatory military service in the Soviet Army interrupted his studies barely a year later. After completing his service in 1986, Kerimov resumed his studies at Dagestan State University,Dagestan State University from which he graduated with a degree in financial accounting and economics in 1989. While a student, he served as deputy chairman of the university's Trade Union Committee. It was also at university that Kerimov met his wife, Firuza, the daughter of a former trade union leader.
Kerimov has said that he had dreamed of making money from an early age, an ambition that later prompted him to leave his native Dagestan in the early 1990s.
Career Early career Soon after his university graduation in 1989, Kerimov took a job as an economist at the Eltav electrical plant in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. The state-controlled plant supplied transistors and semi-conductors to television-makers, while also producing diodes, microchips and halogen lamps. Kerimov was paid 150 roubles (approximately $250 dollars) a month and he and his wife lived in a worker's hostel attached to the plant, where they shared one room of a two-room flat.
Eventually, Kerimov rose to the rank of Deputy Director General at Eltav and began to dabble in investing during the fall of the Soviet Union.
Fedprombank In 1993, Kerimov was put in charge of handling relations between Eltav and Fedprombank, a Moscow bank established by the electrical company. Fedprombank financed lagging industries and Kerimov and his associates soon became creditors to large utility companies, allowing them to continue providing key services. Once the Russian economy stabilized, the debts were repaid with hefty returns for Fedprombank and, consequently, Kerimov.
In 1995, Kerimov was appointed to head the banking and trading company Soyuz-Finans, and by 1997, Kerimov had built a 50% stake in Vnukovo Airlines and used his leverage to take over Fedprombank, buying out his partners' shares.
Nafta Moskva In late 1999, Kerimov bought a 55% stake in the oil trading company Nafta Moskva, the successor to the Soviet monopoly firm Soyuznefteexport, for $50 million. By 2000, he had increased his stake of Nafta Moskva to 100%. Kerimov undertook a mass restructuring of the company, selling off all of the oil-related aspects and creating an investment and holding company. Nafta's investments in the mid-2000s included purchase of the business center Smolensky Passazh and AvtoBank.
Gazprom and Sberbank investments In 2003, Kerimov managed to secure a $43 million loan from the state-owned Vnesheconombank, which he invested in the oil and gas company Gazprom. Within the next year, share prices for the Russian gas company doubled and Kerimov was able to pay off the entirety of the loan within four months. In 2004 Sberbank, now the largest bank in Russia and Eastern Europe, provided Kerimov with a loan of $3.2 billion, which was later repaid, and these funds were also invested in equities. By 2008, Kerimov had amassed a 5% stake in Gazprom, a 6% stake in Sberbank, along with an estimated fortune of $17.5 billion, making him the 36th richest man in the world. However, in mid-2008, Kerimov sold all his Gazprom and Sberbank shares.
Polymetal In November 2005, Kerimov's Nafta Moskva acquired JSC Polymetal, one of Russia's largest gold and silver mining companies. In 2007, he took the company public on the London Stock Exchange, then sold 70% of his shares in 2008 before gold would go on to climb to an all-time high in 2011. In 2008, Kerimov sold control over Polymetal.
Role in the 2008 financial crisis As markets around the world began to tighten in 2007, Kerimov and his associates expected that Russia would suffer more than the West from the 2008 financial crisis. A concerted effort was thus made to build closer ties with Western banks. Kerimov decreased his stakes in Gazprom and other Russian blue chips and approached Wall Street, proposing to invest the vast majority of his fortune to defend the institutions from short-sellers. In return, it was expected that Kerimov would receive favorable lending terms for future loans.
In 2007, Kerimov invested billions in Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and other financial institutions. Though neither Kerimov nor the Western banks have disclosed the exact size of his investment, it was sizeable enough for Kerimov to receive a call from the United States Treasury during the darkest days of the economic crisis imploring the Russian oligarch not to sell his stakes.
Polyus Gold Following his losses during the 2008 financial crisis, Kerimov shifted his investment strategy to buying stakes large enough to influence the strategies of the companies he invests in. In 2009, Nafta Moskva bought a $1.3 billion stake (37% stake) in OAO Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, from Vladimir Potanin.
Later the stake was increased up to 40.2%. In 2012 the company held an IPO on the London Stock Exchange.
In 2015 Kerimov's share in Polyus Gold was transferred to his son, Said.
Property developer PIK Group In the spring of 2009, shareholders of Russia's construction giant PIK Group sold 25% of their company's shares to Kerimov. PIK required extra funding after their debt level reached $1.98 billion, and the value of their capital fell by more than 40 times to $279.9 million. Nafta Moskva later increased its stake in PIK Group to 38.3%.
In December 2013 Kerimov sold his shares to property investor Sergei Gordeev and businessman Alexander Mamut, who owns a stake in precious metals miner Polymetal.
Uralkali In June 2010, Kerimov and his partners Alexander Nesis and Filaret Galchev together paid Dmitry Rybolovlev an estimated $5.3 billion for a 53% stake in Russian potash giant Uralkali, which, together with Belaruskali, at the time made up the duopoly that controlled 70% of the global potash market: the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC). Kerimov secured substantial loans from Russia's VTB bank for the Uralkali takeover.
In July 2013, Uralkali announced it was pulling out of the BPC cartel, dropping prices and increasing production to maximum capacity in a grab for market share. The immediate consequences on the global economy were a 25% drop in potash prices to around $340 a tonne, harming the prospects of both Canadian producers and the Belarusian economy. Belarusian authorities estimate they may lose up to $1 billion a year.
Two weeks after Uralkali's July announcement, Belarusian prime minister Mikhail Myasnikovich responded by inviting Kerimov and the Uralkali managers to Minsk to discuss the current situation. Uralkali's then-CEO attended in Kerimov's place and was arrested by state security forces and charged with "abuse of power".
In the meantime, Belarus also opened a criminal investigation into other Uralkali employees and its main shareholder Suleyman Kerimov. Baumgertner was held in a Belarusian KGB jail until a plan to change ownership of Uralkali was announced, and Belarus then extradited Baumgertner to Russia. Belarus put Kerimov on the national wanted list, and also requested Interpol to publish a Red Notice for him. Interpol clarified later that no Red Notice had been issued and that the request was political in nature. The Belarusian authorities later withdrew the case against Kerimov and closed the criminal investigation. By December 2013, Kerimov sold 21.75% of Uralkali shares to Mikhail Prokhorov for US$3.7 billion and 19,99% (for approximately US$2.9 billion) to Uralchem.
Media portrayal of business style Forbes magazine describes Kerimov as one of the most private Russian billionaires, who has not given a single interview over 20 years in business.
Moscow Times quoted a former deputy editor of Forbes Russia Kirill Vishnepolsky as describing Kerimov as a "Russian Warren Buffett" for a similarly astute investment style. A senior Moscow banker is reported to have said of Kerimov: "Sometimes it is difficult to talk to him. He is always a few steps ahead of you. For foreigners, it is next to impossible, even those used to a Russian environment. He is very quick and creative, in a sense that ideas come to him that don't come to other people". Kerimov reportedly made extensive use of leverage for his investments, according to financiers and bankers active in Russia.
Other investments FC Anzhi Makhachkala In 2011, Kerimov purchased FC Anzhi Makhachkala, his hometown football club which competes in the Russian Premier League.
In March 2012, it was reported that Kerimov had given the club a summer transfer budget of over €230 million, in an attempt to qualify for the UEFA Champions League within the next three seasons.
Apart from FC Anzhi, Kerimov financed the construction of a modern football stadium Anzhi Arena for 30,000 spectators and teams from Anzhi's Youth Football Academy.
In August 2013, as a part of new long-term strategy for the club, it was decided to scale back the club's annual budget by $50–70 million, down from their previous outlay of $180 million a season. The club sold some international players and recruited Russian young players instead.
Kerimov sold the club to Osman Kadiyev on 28 December 2016.
Business controversies and investigations Business controversy over Nafta Moskva Shortly after Kerimov bought into Nafta Moskva, the company found itself in a conflict with businessman Andrei Andreev. Andreev's assets were transferred to Nafta Moskva, Millhouse Capital and Basic Element. Further dispute brought the parties to the court.
In July 2004 Andreev and Nafta Moskva reached an amicable settlement and the dispute was resolved.
Moskva Hotel ownership and associated issues