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From Nickel To $200 Million To Saving Atlantic Yards
December 18, 2009 by Neil · Leave a Comment
The investment fund Onexim, headed by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, executed its agreement with Forest City Ratner to buy a 45 percent stake in Atlantic Yards — which the developer has said will cost up to $900 million — and 80 percent of the Nets. Onexim will also have an option to buy a 20 percent stake in the larger Atlantic Yards project, which calls for another 16 towers surrounding the arena over the 22-acre site. Most of these towers are slated to be residential.
Perhaps the only way for this deal to collapse is if the NBA Board of Governors (or DDDB infiltrators persuading blackmailing impersonating them) vote down this alliance.
Who is Mikhail Prokhorov, and how exactly did he amass his fortune?
Mikhail Prokhorov
Age 42
Who is he? According to the Moscow tabloids, he is Russia’s most eligible bachelor, with a snappy little fortune of $15bn. At the age of 42, Prokhorov is still defiantly unmarried, despite a string of eligible girlfriends and a recent spoof announcement that he intended to tie the knot. His playboy reputation was cemented in February when French police arrested him during an investigation into an international prostitution ring. Police seized Prokhorov in the French skiing resort of Courchevel – a favourite destination for Russia’s ultra-rich. He was later released without charge. “The allegations are absurd,” Sergei Chernytsin, spokesman for Prokhorov’s firm Norilsk Nickel, said in January. He added: “Naturally, he likes girls, and treats them in a natural way. But this isn’t a pretext to accuse him of pimping.” The incident provoked a personal chewing-out from the ascetic Putin, it is said. As well as liking women and parties, Prokhorov is Russia’s fifth richest man. His billions were made from the vast nickel and gold deposits hacked out of Russia’s frozen north. His mine in the town of Norilsk, the second largest human settlement north of the Arctic Circle, was privatised in Russia’s anarchic 1990s.
Relationship with Putin Worsening? Putin last year awarded him the Order of Friendship – a token of Kremlin esteem. But his arrest in January may have led to a cooling.
Place of residence Moscow, and (sometimes) the Alps.
How he made his money Back in the early 1990s, Prokhorov was a clever young banker working for the state-run International Bank of International Cooperation. Vladimir Potanin, an influential banker from a privileged Soviet background, talent-spotted him. The two men moved into private banking, got their mitts on several billion-dollar government accounts, and never looked back. In November 1995 Potanin and Prokhorov snapped up Norilsk Nickel, Russia’s largest nickel company, for £78m less than the asking price. Months later Potanin had become deputy prime minister.
Family Plenty of exes, but no Mrs Prokhorov as yet.
Hobbies Loads. As well as throwing lavish parties, Prokhorov likes basketball (he’s two metres tall) and skiing. Then there is kickboxing, football, the avant-garde, and – strange but true – Salvador Dali.
Prospects Good, assuming he watches his step on the pistes. According to Kommersant newspaper, Prokhorov intends to resign as general director of Norilsk Nickel to concentrate on acquiring electricity assets. Though this means a split from his long-term business partner, Vladimir Potanin – Russia’s fourth richest man – it will leave him still nursing his billions.
Hat Tip: Guardian
