
Shalva Chigirinsky (, born July 1, 1949) is an Israeli-Russian businessman, who was the major shareholder of
AIM-listed British oil company
Sibir Energy Plc. As a principal owner of Russian Land Ltd, he was involved in the implementation of major development projects: the reconstruction of
Hotel Rossiya, the construction of the
Russia Tower in Moscow, the construction of the cultural and business center
Crystal Island, and the reconstruction of
New Holland Island
New Holland Island () is a historic triangular artificial island in central Saint Petersburg, Russia, dating from the 18th century. It is also known as Admiralty Island.
Construction
The island was created in 1719, when the newly built Kry ...
in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
. In 2008, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' ranked him as the 524th richest person in the world and 58th on its list of
Russian billionaires
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
.
Biography
Shalva Chigirinsky was born into a Jewish family on July 1, 1949, in
Kutaisi
Kutaisi ( ; ka, ქუთაისი ) is a city in the Imereti region of the Georgia (country), Republic of Georgia. One of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it is the List o ...
. He attended the
First State Medical University in Moscow during his post-secondary education.
In 1987, Chigirinsky moved to Spain, and then he relocated to Germany to engage in the real estate business. At that time, Chigirinsky met the banker Karl-Heinz Stock, with whom he became co-founder of the company S+T Group Handels GmbH, which carried out its activities in Russia.
Development business
After returning to Russia in the early 1990s, Chigirinsky, as the S+T Group Handels GmbH majority owner, managed construction and reconstruction of real estate projects, including Moscow's heritage landmarks. The businessman started his development activities back in the days of the first
city mayor Gavriil Popov. The first landmark project in Moscow was an office block for the Moscow Complex of Urban Planning Policy and Construction in Nikitsky Lane. Back in the early 1990s, the businessman met Moscow Mayor
Yury Luzhkov
Yury Mikhailovich Luzhkov ( rus, Юрий Михайлович Лужков, p=ˈjʉrʲɪj mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ lʊˈʂkof; 1936 – 10 December 2019) was a Russian politician who served as mayor of Moscow from 1992 to 2010. Before the elect ...
and his wife
Yelena Baturina
Yelena Nikolayevna Baturina (; born 8 March 1963) is an international billionaire businesswoman and a philanthropist of Russian origin. She is based in Austria. She was married to Yury Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow (from 1992 to 2010), until his de ...
. As a result, he was able to ensure the growth of his development business. By 1997, Chigirinsky bought out Stock's share of the business and renamed the company ST Group, becoming chairman of the board of directors.
In 2001, Chigirinsky established the Moscow Development Company (MDC) on a parity basis with the
Moscow Government
The Government of Moscow (, ) is the highest executive body of state authority of Moscow. The Government of Moscow is headed by the highest official of the city of Moscow, i.e. the Mayor of Moscow.
The members of the Government of Moscow are the ...
. The most known MDC's projects were the construction of the International Business Center "
Moscow City" and the establishment of
Metro-Real retail chain of 20 hypermarkets, under an agreement with the German
Metro Group.
In 2002, Shalva Chigirinsky transferred his assets in ST Group to his younger brother Alexander, who in 2007 renamed the company into Snegiri Group. The same year, Shalva Chigirinsky founded STT Group LLC, which became a co-owner of MDC on an equal footing with the Moscow Government.
In 2007, the businessman transferred all development projects to the portfolio of the Russian Land Ltd.
The total floor space of projects Chigirinsky was involved in exceeded 2 million m
2 by the middle of 2007. The largest units were constructions of the
Russia Tower in
Moscow City (400,000 m
2) and the multifunctional complex "Yugra" in
Khanty-Mansiysk
Khanty-Mansiysk (, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city in west-central Russia. Technically, it is situated on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, from its confluence with the Ob, in the oil-ri ...
(161,000 m
2); reconstructions of the
Rossiya Hotel
The Rossiya Hotel () was a hotel in Moscow and was the List of largest hotels, largest hotel in the world from 1967 to 1980. Until its closure in 2006, it remained the second List of largest hotels in Europe, largest hotel in Europe, with 3,182 r ...
(410,000 m
2) and
New Holland Island
New Holland Island () is a historic triangular artificial island in central Saint Petersburg, Russia, dating from the 18th century. It is also known as Admiralty Island.
Construction
The island was created in 1719, when the newly built Kry ...
in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
(68,000 m
2). Sir
Norman Foster
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. Hi ...
was invited as an architect for most of the units. Chigirinsky implemented some of the landmark projects in collaboration with Russian retail businessman
Igor Kesaev and
Viktor Rashnikov, the owner of the
Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works
Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (), abbreviated as MMK, is an iron and steel company located in the city of Magnitogorsk, Russia. As of 2017, it was the 30th largest steel company in the world. In 2021, the company's revenue amounted to 786 bil ...
.
Chigirinsky planned to list his company on the
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
in 2008. In the preparation for the
IPO
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
, shareholders planned to subscribe stakes for 18—20% of the capital, with an expected capitalization of the company of about $10 billion. Thus, the placement volume could have reached $1.8—2 billion. According to
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
, by that time, Chigirinsky had a net worth of US$2.5 billion, ranking him as the 44th richest Russian businessman.
Petroleum business
Alongside the development business, Chigirinsky entered the oil business market in the 1990s. Cooperating with
British Petroleum
BP p.l.c. (formerly The British Petroleum Company p.l.c. and BP Amoco p.l.c.; stylised in all lowercase) is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. It is one of the oil and gas " supermajors" and one of ...
in 1996, the businessman founded the Petrol Complex Company, which created a network of gas stations in Moscow under the BP brand. Chigirinsky owned 25% of the company.
In 1999, the businessman became the majority owner of the Evikhon and Yugraneft oil companies, which owned the unique South Priobskoye and Salym fields. In the same year he merged his oil assets with the British company Sibir Energy, listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM), thanks to which he became its majority owner and director.
With the Moscow Government-owned Central Fuel Company (СFC), Chigirinsky founded the Moscow Oil Company (later — the Moscow Oil and Gas Company), taking over as its president in 2000. A year later, he headed CFC, which owned a majority voting stake of the Moscow Oil Refinery.
Chigirinsky, who maintained close contact with the Moscow mayor's office, was appointed CEO of Moscow Oil and Gas Company in 2003 and its president in 2004. Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov was the chairman of the company's board of directors.
In 2000, Shalva Chigirinsky and
Roman Abramovich
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (born 24 October 1966) is a business oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the primary owner of the private investment com ...
set up a joint venture, Sibneft-Yugra, half of which was owned by Sibir Energy subsidiary Yugraneft, with
Sibneft
Gazprom Neft (; formerly Sibneft, ) is the third largest Petroleum industry, oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to Oil refinery, refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about 96% of its shares. The company is ...
becoming the other co-owner. Yugraneft contributed licenses for the South-Priobskoye and East-Palyanovskoye oil fields to the joint venture's charter capital. But in 2004, Chigirinsky discovered that Yugraneft's stake had been diluted to 0.98% after several additional issues in favor of companies affiliated with Sibneft. Sibir Energy claimed that it had not been informed of the emissions, and unsuccessfully contested the dilution in Russian and international courts.
The episode caused a spat between the Tchigirinskiys brothers — Shalva accused Abramovich's partner Alexander of connivance, which led to the dilution of assets.
In 2005, Chigirinsky sold half his interest in Sibir Energy to businessman
Igor Kesaev, whom he had known since the early 1990s.
In the fall of 2007 Sibir Energy and the Moscow City Government merged their refining assets, as a result of which Sibir Energy became the owner of 100% of Moscow Oil and Gas Company which, in turn, owned 50.08% of Moscow Oil Refinery, 38% of Mosnefteproduct (a chain of oil depots and fuel stations near Moscow) and 100% of Moscow Fuel Company (a chain of fuel stations in Moscow). A total of 139 filling stations and fuel bases in the Moscow region were under the control of the merged company. In exchange, the Moscow Government received 18.03% of the company's common stock and an option to repurchase another 3.16% within a year and a half. The deal completed the creation of a vertically integrated oil company.
2008 financial crisis
The fall in demand for real estate and the freezing of credit lines during the
2008 financial crisis
The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
had a negative impact on Chigirinsky's businesses.
In October 2008, it was announced that Sibir Energy made advances to purchase Sovietsky Hotel and the New Sovietskaya developments — the objects owned by Chigirinky's companies. In December 2008, the company, in which 18% stake was owned by the Moscow government, announced that it is considering to buy out the remaining development projects and assuming debt obligations of Chigirinsky's Russian Land. But in February 2009, Sibir Energy reconsidered its intentions and demanded from Chigirinsky return the funds already paid. Following that, the
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
at the request of the company suspended trading in its shares. The situation was aggravated by the demands of the creditors who granted loans to Russian Land, with Chigirinsky and Gradison Consultants Inc. as guarantors for loans.
In 2009, Chigirinsky moved from Russia to Israel, of which he is a citizen. A year later, a settlement was concluded in London between Sibir Energy, Chigirinsky, and all of his creditors. However, the businessman lost his stake in the oil company and a significant part of his development assets. After a series of transactions,
Gazprom Neft
Gazprom Neft (; formerly Sibneft, ) is the third largest oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about 96% of its shares. The company is registered and headquartered in ...
, the successor to Sibneft, took control of Sibir Energy. In 2011, Gazprom Neft acquired from the Moscow government its stake in the company for US$740 million, becoming the sole shareholder and integrating Sibir Energy into its structure.
In 2011 and 2012, he sold his stake in the Russia Tower and Hotel Rossiya projects to Rashnikov and Nader for US$60 million in total.
International projects
Chigirinsky moved to the U.S. in 2013 and engaged in real estate development.
He was involved in the construction of the Margaritaville Resort Times Square, located at the corner of
Seventh Avenue and West 40th Street in New York City. The 32-story hotel features 234 guestrooms, five restaurants and bars, a year-round outdoor heated pool, and a street-level Margaritaville retail store. Margaritaville Resort Times Square is a joint project of Shalva Chigirinsky and
Soho Properties, founded by American businessman
Sharif El-Gamal. Total construction costs hover around $370 million. The hotel is managed by
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville is a United States–based hospitality company that manages and franchises a casual dining American restaurant chain, retail stores selling merchandise, and hotels themed after the musician Jimmy Buffett.
The bran ...
. It was voted the "Best New Hotel 2021" on
USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
's 10 Best Readers' Choice Awards.
After the hotel opened, Shalva Chigirinsky said that the market of "walking distance resorts" or "vertical resorts" is extremely promising. And he announced plans to open a second similar project in Chicago. He and his partners are also working on projects to build similar hotels in Canadian cities, as well as in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Family and personal life
In 2003–2009, he was married to Tatyana Panchenkova. In the course of the couple's long-term divorce settlement followed up by courts in Russia and the United States, Panchenkova filed a lawsuit in
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
accusing her ex-husband of "physical, psychological and emotional abuse" over a span of 10 years.
Additionally, she filed a separate case, seeking substantial post-divorce pay-offs allegedly owed due to the order of the Russian judge. However, in October 2014, a jury of the
Waterbury
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Waterbury had a population of 114,403 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. The city is southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury i ...
Courthouse found Chigirinsky not guilty on all charges.
In June 2014, Chigirinsky brought an action in the New York's Federal Court, accusing Panchenkova of illegal profiteering by selling a part of US$120 million art collection transferred to her on the children's benefits for trust management, as well as of the real estate concealment in the US during a divorce proceeding.
Above all, Panchenkova accused her ex-husband of child abuse. Based on pre-trial investigation results in 2016, the Court of
Stamford issued an arrest warrant for Chigirinsky, who, although denying the charges, voluntarily presented himself to the police station. On March 17, the
Connecticut Supreme Court
The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit i ...
released him on $50,000 bail.
After considering the facts of the case, the Stamford Court issued an arrest warrant for Tatyana Panchenkova on charges of actions that "entailed the risk of harm to minors and their moral decay" in early June 2016. The warrant resulted from an expert examination, which proved that Panchenkova "manipulated her children to incite hatred towards their own father" and instructed them on "correct" answers in court. The custody case, which awarded Chigirinsky a right to contact the children, finished in August 2016.
In early February 2017, the Court of the State of Connecticut dismissed the case against Chigirinsky, finding him not guilty.
The same year in November, ex-spouses settled their dispute over property in the US, and the case over supplementary payments was also dismissed.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chigirinsky, Shalva
Living people
1950 births
Billionaires from Georgia (country)
Russian construction businesspeople
Russian billionaires
People from Kutaisi
Jews from Georgia (country)
Russian businesspeople in the oil industry
Russian businesspeople in Israel
20th-century Jews from Georgia (country)