Yuri Shefler (; born 10 September 1967) is a Russian-born businessman. He is the owner of SPI Group, an international consortium that sells alcohol in 160 countries, most notably the

Stolichnaya Stolichnaya () is a vodka made of wheat and rye grain. It originated in the Soviet Union in 1938. There are two versions of the vodka: the version found outside Russia is made in Latvia, while the version found inside Russia is made there. With ...

vodka brand. As of March 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$1.5 billion.

Business career

Shefler left the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

in September 1987 and embarked on a career in business, which saw him running one of Moscow`s leading shopping malls and Vnukovo Airlines. He used to own one of the largest yachts in the world, , with a length of . In 2015 he sold ''Serene'' to Saudi Crown Prince

Mohammed bin Salman Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (; born 31 August 1985), also known as MBS or MbS, is the ''de facto'' ruler of the Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, formally serving as Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Sa ...

for a reported $550 million. In March 2017 he bought Tulchan Estate on Speyside, Scotland's most expensive sporting estate. On 17 February 2022,

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. In a Brad Pitt filmography, film career spanning more than thirty years, Pitt has received list of awards and nominations received by Brad Pitt, numerous a ...

said that

Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie ( ; born Angelina Jolie Voight, , June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Angelina Jolie, numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards ...

sold to Shefler's wine group Tenute del Mondo, which is a subsidiary of Shefler's Stoli Group, her interest in the Château Miraval at Correns in

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

, France, which Pitt and Jolie purchased in 2008 for $28.4 million.

SPI Group

SPI Group produces and sells alcohol under 380 brands in 160 countries, most notably

vodka. SPI Group also owns Louisiana Spirits Company, Fabrica de Tequilas Finos in Mexico and Achaval Ferrer in Argentina. Subsidiary of SPI Group, Luxembourg-based Amber Beverage Group Holding S.à r.l. owns Latvian-based SIA Amber Beverage Group, which owns Latvijas Balzams which manufactures Riga Black Balsam. Shefler's SPI Group has been involved in a decades-long dispute with Russian state-owned company FKP Sojuzplodoimport (FKP) over who owns the Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya trademarks. In 2020 the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that the rights belonged to Russia and ordered SPI Group to stop selling its products in

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

. In 2022 Shefler was ordered to pay a former UK executive over £1.6 million after sacking him when he complained about pay cuts.

Personal life

Shefler was born to a Russian Jewish family in

Oryol Oryol ( rus, Орёл, , ɐˈrʲɵl, a=ru-Орёл.ogg, links=y, ), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a Classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, situated on the Oka Rive ...

. He has citizenship in the United Kingdom and Israel. He was formerly married to Tatiana Kovylina, a Russian model who once worked for

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing and beauty products, beauty retailer. Founded in 1977 by a Stanford graduate student and his wife, Roy Raymond, Roy and Gaye Raymond, the company's five lingerie stores were sold to Les Wexner i ...

, until their split in 2021. They have four children together, and lived together in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland. He has since been linked to

Ksenia Sukhinova Ksenia Vladimirovna Sukhinova (; born 26 August 1987) is a Russians, Russian TV host, model and former beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss World 2008. She was the second Russian woman to be crowned Miss World, and had previously bee ...

, who was Miss Russia 2007, and

Miss World 2008 Miss World 2008 was the 58th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 13 December 2008. Zhang Zilin of China crowned Ksenia Sukhinova of Russia as her successor at the end of t ...

. As reported by Forbes in March 2022, Shefler had an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shefler, Yuri 1967 births Living people 21st-century British businesspeople Russian billionaires People from Oryol British business executives 21st-century Israeli businesspeople Israeli business executives British people of Russian-Jewish descent Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Russian businesspeople in the United Kingdom Russian businesspeople in Israel