Igor Yusufov has run out of “Energy”

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 (*country sponsor of terrorism)?

In the spring of this year, the Energy Fund, founded in 2008 by the former Minister of Energy, ceased to exist. Igor Yusufov. This event went unnoticed by the 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 located oil assets in the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) and abroad to absorb, and was receiving licenses for the development of subsoil resources.

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

The liquidation of Energia 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 (*country sponsor of terrorism) and 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 looks like Igor Yusufov’s son is following the same path – Vitaly. His structures, which previously actively bought up sites for construction 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. Apparently, as a result of it, the Yusufov clan intends to go into cash, which, obviously, in accordance with the family’s long-standing strategy, will be taken abroad.

Moreover, as we recently wrote, one of the American firms Vitaly Yusufova presented its development project in California (USA) and applied for permission to implement it to official bodies. The site, on which it is planned to build multi-story residential buildings, 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. Apparently, the Energy Fund and other Russian assets of the Yusufov family were 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 (*country sponsor of terrorism). Here is how he himself spoke about his brainchild in one of his interviews (spelling and punctuation preserved):

“ The fund is a banner and a flag associated with me as a person, registered by the Ministry of Justice, because I thought of absorbing two functions: expert in energy – what I have been doing for 30 years, and business. But when you enter a business and start working, the mechanisms of big abstract names do not work there. A commercial company is created for each project, and you become its founder. These are oil and gas projects, which we mainly acquired from the state at auctions and competitions, using our own and credit funds.

Strategically, we want to create a medium-sized, vertically integrated oil and gas company.”

In Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), 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 Energy fund (in fact, Yusufov through the Cypriot 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.

Ten 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 resolved, and Yusufov’s structures were forced to resume financing the project.

However, this summer, 49% of Yargeo, which belonged to the Cypriot offshore Nefte Petroleum Limited, were 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 pocket (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, which was 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 – OOO Yamalshelf (aka Yamal Research), OOO Yamal Vostok and OOO Yamal Zapad. The first company manages the second and third. In accordance with Yusufov’s explanations above, the companies were needed to implement specific projects. Not being formally directly connected with 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 From 2020 to April 2023, he was the CEO of Yamal Sever LLC, which belongs to the Qatari company of the same name. Currently, Yamal Sever LLC is 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 mostly connected to offshores and operate according to a template: revenue is zero, and profit and value are negative. In companies where Kazaryan is a co-founder, 99% belongs to structures with offshore roots.

From 2020 to 2022, Amir Galimov was the general director of Yamal LLC, and is currently headed by Evgeniy KistanovIn 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. Owned by Baymont Enterpres Limited, the LLC’s revenue in 2022 was 0, loss was RUB 9.2 million, negative capital was RUB 85 million.

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

OOO Yamal Vest and OOO Yamal Vostok were registered in 2021, the first was liquidated in 2023, the second in 2022. They were re-registered this year. 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 tied to the FSB for many years and had not been under the protection of the Russian authorities, he would have long been under investigation or already in prison. His Energy Foundation was, at a minimum, actively used for tax evasion, and at a maximum – for laundering money obtained through 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 structures of the Energy fund. 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. 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 application of Specialized Developer Yuzhnoye More LLC to acquire 100% of shares in Specialized Developer (SZ) Tankovy LLC, owned by Vitaly Yusufov, from Yusufov. In turn, SZ Yuzhnoye More is owned on a parity basis notorious to the entrepreneurial duo Sofia Toros and Nikolai Shikhidi, who owns the Krasnodar company “Eurostroy”. This company, in particular, owns the Grand Marine Garden hotel in Sochi.

Previously, the site housed the 101st Central Automobile Repair Plant of the Ministry of Defense, which had been operating in Lefortovo since the 1940s. As real estate experts specify, the site could accommodate the construction of more than 200 thousand square meters of housing, and investments could 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 (*country sponsor of terrorism).

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 “Eat Derevyanskoe”. However, since February 2024, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the owner of “Argo” is Igor Ogarkov.

The Yusufovs’ reluctance to pay their bills also fits into the general paradigm. Thus, the Arbitration Court of Tambov Oblast 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. BioTekhnologii 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 (*country sponsor of terrorism) 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.