This man has reached dizzying heights in business, and today he is reluctant to invest in new assets. Andrey Melnichenko considers himself a happy person who does not deny himself anything. According to Forbes, he is steadily in the top twenty list of the most rich people in Russia, although it’s difficult for the oligarch to calculate the value of his business. However, the size of his fortune exceeds $ 10 billion. Today, Andrey Melnichenko feels full of energy and has many creative ideas in his head. What was his path to Olympus of entrepreneurship and what is remarkable in the biography of a billionaire? Let's consider this question in more detail.
Years of childhood
Melnichenko Andrey Igorevich was born on March 8, 1972 in the Belarusian Gomel. In his youth, he was an inquisitive child and often took part in olympiads. Once Andrei Melnichenko, whose parents were teachers, went to defend the honor of the school at the Republican Physics Olympiad.
There, teachers noticed the erudition of the young man, so he was soon invited to study at the Moscow State University school with a physical and mathematical bias, which was in the capital. Andrey Melnichenko did not miss this opportunity, and after a while he was already a student at the physics department of Moscow State University. However, having studied there a little, the young man decides to change his profession and is transferred to REA them. Plekhanov, where he masters the specialty of "finance and credit."
Beginning of an entrepreneurial career
Gnawing at the granite of science, the young man feels how difficult the student’s life is from a financial point of view. In order to improve his financial situation somewhat, in 1991 Andrey Melnichenko, on an equal footing with peers Mikhail Kuznetsov and Yevgeny Ishchenko, established a company that began to profile itself in providing travel services. Then the partners expanded the business somewhat and began to sell office equipment. But they really earned a lot of money on another.
Business is booming
In the 90s, a regulatory act was issued according to which currency exchange became the exclusive prerogative of banking institutions.
Melnichenko Andrei Igorevich intends to earn thanks to this innovation and, together with partners, opens an exchange point in the Premier credit structure. After some time, they got a whole network of such microorganizations.
MDM
Business at exchange offices has developed and expanded to such an extent that the entrepreneur soon creates a large financial and credit institution, Moscow Business World (MDM). In 1993, the brainchild of Andrei Melnichenko received a license from the Bank of Russia. Business began to develop according to a proven scenario: the population received currency exchange services. Soon, points where it was possible to convert rubles to dollars and vice versa began to appear not only in the capital, but also in the periphery. Soon MDM transformed into a large banking structure.
Business is at risk
Events in the economy in 1998 provoked a crisis that negatively affected the banking sector. However, he failed to break the brainchild of Andrei Melnichenko, moreover, his bank was able to strengthen its position in the market in the late 90s. What is the reason for such stability?
First, MDM did not have serious competitors, which enabled the bank to stay afloat, and its owners - to increase capital.
Secondly, the authoritative entrepreneur Alexander Mamut, who held a far from an ordinary position in the aforementioned financial structure, did not let Moscow Business World fall to the bottom (head of the supervisory board). In addition, MDM Bank's clients were large businessmen who made fortunes in the ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy market, which included the famous oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Merger of banking structures
At the beginning of the 2000s, two credit institutions merged - MDM and Converse Bank. Andrey Melnichenko (oligarch) is at the helm of a new financial structure. Moreover, he receives powers to control cash flows in the nuclear field. Former head of the Ministry of Atomic Energy Yevgeny Adamov transferred the branch state bank to the balance of the brainchild of Melnichenko.
MDM's clients - Oleg Deribaska and Roman Ambramovich - together with Alexander Mamut planned 80% of the financial flows of the nuclear industry, which were controlled by Converse Bank, to invest in projects that are beneficial to them. They instructed Andrey Melnichenko to implement the plan. But in practice it turned out differently. The minister lost his high post, and the above-mentioned oligarchs switched to other affairs, preferring not to deal with the head of MDM Bank. But Melnichenko’s business prospered.
New Horizons
Entrepreneur began to massively buy securities of large giants coal industry consolidating them in the structure of SUEK ("Siberian Coal Energy Company"). Over time, he managed to crush a large competitor, the Krasnoyarskugol enterprise, by concentrating in his hands almost half of the entire coal industry.
However, after a while, Andrei Igorevich had a new companion - businessman Sergei Popov. It was he who acquired from Melnichenko half the shares of MDM. Then the billionaire gradually sells his remaining securities and completely gets rid of his brainchild. He will head the banking structure until 2004. After that, he will be a member of the Board of Directors of OJSC SUEK with a little more.
Instead of the old business, Andrey Melnichenko gets a new one. Sergei Popov hands him Eurochem, and now the ex-head of MDM is becoming a major supplier of mineral fertilizers.
In 2007, Andrei Igorevich will be a member of the board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
Create a new structure
In 2011, the oligarch takes part of the assets from the Siberian Coal Energy Company and creates a new legal entity - Siberian Generating Company LLC. After some time, the businessman acquires a controlling stake in SUEK and becomes the head of this structure.
Business priorities
Nevertheless, Melnichenko decided to focus on the production of mineral fertilizers as the profile of his main business. It is noteworthy that over the years of Eurochem management, Andrei Igorevich managed to transform the enterprise into the largest supplier of chemicals for plant nutrition. Profit EuroChem for the year sometimes reached $ 4 billion.
In 2013, the construction of fertilizer plants in China and the USA was planned, and projects have already been developed.
Personal life
As already emphasized, the oligarch knows nothing of the need. He married in 2005 a girl from Serbia, who in the past won the high-profile title of Miss Yugoslavia. Melnichenko Andrey, whose wife in 2012 gave birth to a daughter, is happily married. The spouse's name is Sandra Nikolic, but she is better known as Alexandra Melnichenko. The billionaire and his other half own a luxurious apartment in the capital of Serbia and from time to time come to this hospitable country. In general, Andrei and Alexandra Melnichenko are a couple to be envied.
However, the environment of a billionaire is delighted with one luxurious thing that very few can afford.It is a 120-meter yacht that can plow the vast expanses of the ocean. This beauty and design sailing vessel overshadowed Abramovich’s ship preferences.
Andrei Melnichenko’s “A” yacht impresses with its unique design: the railing of the spiral staircase is finished with sheet silver, and the massive door to the utility cabin can be opened only with the fingerprint of the owner of the vessel.
The windows of the yacht are protected by 44 mm glass that will not damage any explosions. On the deck there are two chairs made of antelope horns and crocodile skin.
However, a businessman spends money not only on his beloved. Andrey Melnichenko is also involved in charity work. He finances such areas as health, education, sports, invests in social projects. The billionaire himself says that he is multiplying his financial assets through competent investment.
One way or another, but now Melnichenko is one of the most respected entrepreneurs who are distinguished by their stability, development and ability to withstand adversity in any crisis.
