The family of the former Minister of Energy, ex-special representative of the Russian president, is getting rid of Russian assets and moving cash abroad

Farewell, unwashed Russia?

In the spring of this year, the Energy Fund, founded in 2008 by former Energy Minister Igor Yusufov, ceased to exist. This event went unnoticed by Russian business media, which had previously closely followed the fund’s activities. Until recently, it was considered a contender for the creation of a new vertically integrated energy holding on its basis, was looking for poorly functioning oil assets in Russia and abroad to absorb, and was receiving licenses for the development of subsoil resources. This was reported by Vzglyad.

A year earlier, the Energy Fund fell under blocking sanctions from the US Treasury Department.

The liquidation of Energy could be explained by Igor Yusufov’s desire to get rid of a toxic organization with a sanction stigma, if not for one circumstance: Igor Yusufov is gradually winding down all his business in Russia, getting rid of other industrial assets. Thus, in particular, at the beginning of 2023, Igor Yusufov sold his shares in the companies Yamal Vostok, Yamal Zapad and Yamal Issledovaniia (formerly Yamalshelf).

It seems that Igor Yusufov’s son, Vitaly, is following the same course. His structures, which previously actively bought up sites for development in Moscow, are now starting to slowly get rid of them. In addition, in the agricultural sector, where Vitaly Yusufov also has assets, his structures are starting to “throw” counterparties. If
you put all these disparate episodes together, you get a picture of a big sale. Obviously, as a result of it, the Yusufov clan intends to go into cash, which, obviously, in accordance with the family’s long-term strategy, will be taken abroad.

Moreover, as we recently wrote, one of Vitaly Yusufov’s American companies presented its development project in California (USA) and applied for permission to implement it to official bodies. The land plot, on which the construction of multi-story residential buildings is planned, was previously purchased by the Yusufovs for $72 million in cash. The Yusufovs will now need even more money to implement the project if it is approved. Obviously, the Energy Fund and other Russian assets of the Yusufov family have been cut down for further Western expansion.

The Foundation of Unfulfilled Hopes

The Energy Fund, which was liquidated this summer, was quite an ambitious project. At least in the information space. Under this banner, Igor Yusufov began to accumulate oil and gas assets after he left the chair of the Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation. Here is how he himself spoke about his brainchild in one of his interviews (spelling and punctuation preserved):

In Russia, Energia’s business interests were concentrated in several regions: in Western Siberia - Yamal and Khanty-Mansiysk, in Eastern Siberia - Krasnoyarsk and Yakutia.

For example, in Yamal, the Energia fund (in fact, Yusufov through the Cyprus offshore Nefte Petroleum Limited) controlled 49% of the shares of the company Yargeo (the remaining 51% belonged to NOVATEK). Yargeo LLC is developing the Yarudeyskoye oil and gas condensate field. The field was launched in December 2015 and in a short time reached the design volumes of oil and gas production. The company’s revenue for 2023 amounted to 63.5 billion rubles, net profit - 11.5 billion rubles.

10 years ago, a corporate scandal broke out at Yargeo between the controlling owner NOVATEK and Nefte Petroleum. NOVATEK began legal proceedings in November 2014, filing a lawsuit in the Arbitration Court of the Yamalo-Nenets Administrative District demanding that Nefte Petroleum be excluded from Yargeo. At that time, NOVATEK explained to RBC that Nefte Petroleum had stopped providing its share of the project financing and was preventing the attraction of external financing. In August 2015, a settlement agreement was signed and the conflict was settled, and Yusufov’s structures were forced to resume financing the project.

However, this summer, 49% of Yargeo, which belonged to the Cypriot offshore company Nefte Petroleum Limited, was transferred to the recently established Qatari company Enduro Investments LLC. The ultimate beneficiaries of the Qatari company are unknown, and it is possible that Igor Yusufov simply transferred the asset from one of his pockets (the offshore) to another. However, given all the other sales, we are most likely talking about another case of the Yusufovs selling off Russian assets with the subsequent transfer of money abroad. It is logical to assume that the exit from energy projects and the liquidation of the Energy fund are events related to a common trend.

Negative "Energy"

In fact, the Energy Fund, created in 2008, has received virtually no income or profit during its entire period of operation. Previously, the founder of the fund was JSC Corporation Energy, liquidated in 2020. Its founders were Anton Smetanin and Dmitry Rambovsky. In turn, Igor Yusufov was the chairman of the board at JSC. Apparently, the company was engaged in withdrawing money. For the entire period of its existence, except for 2019, JSC Corporation Energy received neither revenue nor profit, but the negative capital amounted to 185 million rubles.

In addition, acting under the flag of the Energy Fund, Igor Yusufov was the founder of three more companies - Yamalshelf LLC (aka Yamal Research), Yamal Vostok LLC and Yamal Zapad LLC. The first company manages the second and third. According to Yusufov’s explanations above, the companies were needed to implement specific projects. Not being formally directly connected to the Energy Fund, they were considered as participants in the future holding - Yusufov’s vertically integrated oil company.

Until 2020, Yamalshelf LLC belonged to various offshore companies. In 2020, Amir Galimov became the founder, in 2021 - Igor Yusufov, until he left the founders in 2023.

During Yusufov’s time, Yamalshelf LLC did not have a single employee, and it is unclear how the organization managed the other two "Yamals". The company’s revenue in 2022 amounted to 875 thousand rubles, the loss was 4.5 million rubles.

Yusufov’s partner Amir Galimov was the CEO of Yamal Sever LLC, owned by the Qatari company of the same name, from 2020 to April 2023. Yamal Sever LLC is currently managed by a certain Grigory Kazaryan. He is the head of eight operating companies and the founder of three.

All companies managed by Grigory Kazaryan are mainly associated with offshore companies and operate according to a template: revenue is zero, and profit and value are negative. In the companies where Kazaryan is a co-founder, 99% belongs to structures with offshore roots.

From 2020 to 2022, Amir Galimov was the CEO of Yamal LLC, which is now headed by Evgeny Kistanov. In 2022, like other structures associated with the management of the Energy fund, the company received zero revenue, a loss of 97 million rubles, and negative capital of 112 million rubles.

Evgeny Kistanov is the head of three companies whose financial results also indicate a possible withdrawal of funds.

In 2022, Evgeny Kistanov replaced Galyamov as CEO of Zapsibank LLC. Owns Baymont Enterprises Limited, the LLC’s revenue in 2022 was 0, loss was RUB 9.2 million, negative capital was RUB 85 million.

Galyamov previously headed Novoenergo JSC, which was liquidated in 2021. In 2019, its revenue was zero rubles, loss was RUB 216 million, negative capital was RUB 1.7 billion.

OOO Yamal Vest and OOO Yamal Vostok were registered in 2021, the first was liquidated in 2023, the second in 2022. This year they were re-registered. I wonder if these companies will be used to pump money through them, liquidated again, and then registered again...

The fact is that if Igor Yusufov had not been connected with the FSB for many years and was not under the protection of the Russian authorities, he would have long been under investigation or already in prison. His Energy Fund, at a minimum, was actively used for tax evasion, and at a maximum - for laundering money obtained by criminal means.

Obedient son

Igor Yusufov’s son Vitaly came to big business on the back of his father, and as an entrepreneur he is obviously not independent. This is due to the similarity of their business styles. Vitaly Yusufov is the head and founder of the Investment Company Argo LLC, and owns three more operating companies. He owns two Ikominvest LLCs, which were registered in 2010 in Moscow at different addresses.

The financial indicators of one of these companies are the same as those of the Energy Fund structures. Revenue - 0, loss - 47 million rubles, negative value - 1.2 billion rubles.

Like his father’s structures, Vitaly Yusufov’s companies are gradually selling off their Russian assets. Thus, in particular, in the spring of this year it became known that Vitaly Yusufov was selling OOO Specialized Developer (SZ) Tankovy, which has 8 hectares of land for development in Tankovy Proezd in the southeast of Moscow on its balance sheet.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service has already approved the petition of OOO Specialized Developer Yuzhnoye More to acquire 100% of the shares in OOO Specialized Developer (SZ) Tankovy, owned by Vitaly Yusufov, from Yusufov. In turn, SZ Yuzhnoye More is owned on a parity basis by the notorious duo of entrepreneurs Sofia Toros and Nikolay Shikhidi, who own the Krasnodar company Eurostroy. This company, in particular, owns the Grand Marine Garden Hotel in Sochi.

Previously, the 101st Central Automobile Repair Plant of the Ministry of Defense was located on the site, which operated in Lefortovo from 1940s. As real estate experts specify, it is possible to build more than 200 thousand square meters of housing on the site, and investments can amount to 33 billion rubles. They estimate the site itself at approximately 14-15 billion rubles.

Despite the fact that Vitaly Yusufov’s structures still have large real estate properties in Moscow, the sale of Tankovy fits into the general family paradigm of gradually curtailing business activity in Russia.

It can also be added that at the beginning of this year, Vitaly Yusufov also got rid of his agricultural asset. His company Argo owned 2.78% of the farming platform Esh Derevyanskoye. However, since February 2024, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Igor Ogarkov has been the owner of Argo. The

Yusufovs’ reluctance to pay the bills also fits into the general paradigm. Thus, the Arbitration Court of Tambov Region has scheduled a preliminary hearing on the claim of Rusagro Group of Companies LLC against Vitaly Yusufov for October 21. As reported in the court’s card index, the subject of the claim is the recovery of damages. BioTechnologies JSC, a subsidiary of Rusagro, is involved as a third party in the case. According to the card index, Rusagro is demanding more than 91 million rubles from Yusufov. No other details are provided.

Perhaps this sum (around $1 million) is not so big for Vitaly Yusufov. However, for a family that is deliberately winding down its business in Russia and transferring all assets to the West, a million dollars would not be superfluous. The temptation to screw over the remaining contractors here was obviously very difficult to resist.