The person of this large businessman is little known in the public environment, although his financial condition is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. Who is he, Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich? “Forbes” in the ranking of the richest entrepreneurs in Russia the year before last identified him at 146 place. At that time, his profit was estimated at 0.7 billion dollars. One can only be surprised at how Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich became the head of the large commercial structure of ESN and made it prosperous and powerful. However, the scope of his business interests has a wide range, and over the years of entrepreneurial activity he experienced not only ups, but also downs. But despite the repeated fiasco in business, Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich was able to make a huge financial condition. What was remarkable in his biography? Let's consider this question in more detail.
Curriculum Vitae
Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich - a native of the Russian capital. He was born on August 9, 1966. The future entrepreneur found out the price of money while still a teenager. At the age of 14, Gregory moonlighted by removing the underground passage. Moreover, the salary received (160-200 rubles) seemed to him a fortune: not every adult could brag of such money.
Having received a certificate of maturity, Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich decided to become a petrochemist and entered the Faculty of Chemistry at Moscow State University. In 1988, the young man received a specialist diploma. But he decided to start a career in high school and entered graduate school. Three years later he graduated from it, and in 1993 he successfully defended his thesis. In parallel with the writing of scientific work, the young man worked as a junior research fellow at the department of chemistry, oil and organic catalysis. But after some time to develop a scientific career, Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich, whose biography is not known to everyone, changed his mind.
First steps in business
In the early 90s, a graduate of the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University decided to try his hand at entrepreneurship. But where to start? An idea has ripened in his head: to organize the production of cable for oil submersible pumps. The spent raw materials were abandoned in almost all fields of Komi and Siberia. Grigory Viktorovich with like-minded people took the “old-fashioned” cable, smelted copper, and made a new “wire” from it. Clients for the goods were found immediately: oil workers. The novice businessman agreed with them on barter - he gave them a cable, and they gave him “black gold”.
He resold the resulting oil to foreign markets.
Acquaintance with the “Great Combinator”
Success in the oil business was evident, and after a while, fate brought Berezkin to Roman Abramovich himself, who made money from the supply of fuel from Komi. On the recommendation of the oligarch, Grigory Viktorovich was offered the position of assistant to the head of the large commercial structure Komineft. He agreed, despite the fact that things were not going well in the company. She was in a serious financial crisis. The situation was complicated by the fact that an accident occurred at one of the sections of the pipeline. To minimize its consequences, Komineft was forced to borrow huge amounts of money from the EBRD and the World Bank. It was necessary to correct the financial situation of the enterprise, and Berezkin assumed the function of anti-crisis manager. The company conducted an issue of securities, due to which it was possible to increase the authorized capital of Komineft many times over. Such a measure made it possible to oust several private investors from the company.
Masco
In parallel with the administration of the Komineft structure, Berezkin was in charge of affairs at the Masco firm, which was a joint product of RAO International Economic Cooperation and Komineft. Soon, the latter was reorganized by combining it with other companies: Kominefteprodukt and the Ukhta Oil Refinery.
As a result, a new legal entity appeared - KomiTEK.
Trying to get into big politics
In the mid-90s, a graduate of the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University decided to become a people's deputy and independently put forward his candidacy for parliament in the lower house of the Russian parliament. Few people were surprised that a prominent businessman, oilman Grigory Viktorovich Berezkin, was marking the deputies. His reception was located within the boundaries of the University constituency No. 201, from which, in fact, he ran for. But the entrepreneur failed in the election, losing the parliamentary seat to his rival - economist Pavel Bunich.
KomiTEK
In 1996, Grigory Viktorovich took the reins of the company KomiTEK-Moscow, whose profile was the export supply of “black gold” mined by Noyabrskneftegaz. After some time, Berezin became the full owner of the KomiTEK company, becoming the head of its executive body. After that, the businessman acquired a stake in Euroseverneft (38%) and a stake in SB-Trust (29%).
"Unified social tax"
In 1997, Berezin became the head of the executive body of the company Euroseverneft ("UST"). He held this position for eight years.
In the late 90s, a businessman sold the structure of KomiTEK. She went to Lukoil.
Then the businessman met with Anatoly Chubais and asked to give him control of the subsidiary of RAO - Kolenergo. He agreed.
In 2000, the entrepreneur supported the initiative for ESN Energo to become the manager of the Kolenergo company, which at that time was close to bankruptcy. After some time, the businessman managed not only to remove the “daughter” of RAO from the crisis, but also to prepare it for the transformation. An advanced system of financial accounting and competent budgeting was successfully tested at the enterprise, and the energy marketing process was modernized with maximum efficiency.
Good deals
In 2003, Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich (ESN) bought a 5% stake in RAO UES and resold them to Gazprom with tremendous profit. Soon, the businessman joined the Board of Directors of the largest energy supplier in the country.
In 2006, the entrepreneur made a number of transactions that brought him huge profits. First, he sold almost half of Rusenergosbyt to a foreign investor. Secondly, as the head of the ESN Board of Directors, Grigory Viktorovich bought the Reklamotiv advertising agency, the Sakvoyazh-SV print edition, and an Internet portal. All of the above acquisitions were combined under the leadership of the Media Partner company, which, after some time, began to invest in the energy industry. At the end of zero, UST on an equal footing with Russian Railways became the owner of a controlling stake in TGK-14 energy company.
In 2010, Berezkin became a member of the executive body of Russian Railways.
Undermining business reputation
One way or another, but the biography of the businessman was not perfect. Berezkin’s reputation was tarnished by scandals related to his activities. Former head of the Ministry of Energy and Fuel Viktor Kalyuzhny publicly announced fraudulent schemes that the businessman used in oil production. He referred to the liquidation of the KomiTEK structure, reporting that Grigory Berezkin had not produced a single barrel of oil in his life, and he “built up” financial capital in this business based on his clever ability to maneuver cash flows in fraudulent ways.
Many were puzzled by the story of the Yakut concern Alrosa, which is profiled in diamond mining. At the beginning of the 2000s, the federal authorities decided to consolidate their influence in this enterprise, but the local administration refused to assist them in this.
Grigory Viktorovich decided to “warm his hands” in this matter. He planned to buy back a 5% stake in Alrosa. The Social Security Guarantee Fund was a military soldier under the Government of the Russian Federation. Officials from the Ministry of Property Relations, who threatened to abolish the Fund, interfered with the situation. The conflict of interest lasted until 2002, and after the intervention of Alexei Kudrin, the state “triumphed”.
Some are still outraged that Rusenergosbyt, owned by Berezkin, for some reason sold electricity to Gazprom at a price that was more than 2 times the market. This question has been raised repeatedly.
Family status
Is Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich happy in his personal life? His family is a wife and children with whom he is certainly happy.
He tries to devote time not only to business, but also to his offspring and his wife. Who is she, how did Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich meet her? The businessman’s wife, Elena, is engaged in art and is the owner of the Line-Art gallery. They fell in love with each other as students and got married in the last year of the institute. The hero of our article was not involved in any love scandals.