According to documents obtained by Financial Times, Fridman and Aven sold Alfa-Bank and Alfa Insurance to their longtime partner Andrey Kosogov last year, completing a deal made in 2023, resulting in the two companies being valued at about 240 billion rubles. The oligarchs collectively owned a 45% stake in the bank and a 42% stake in the insurer.
Kosogov, who is not under sanctions, became the largest shareholder of Alfa-Bank and LetterOne, a conglomerate in Mayfair, by buying out the stakes from his sanctioned partners. The oligarchs hope that the sale of the bank and insurer will help them counter the EU sanctions imposed on them in response to Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Last year, the EU General Court partially annulled the grounds for the sanctions, ruling that there was not enough evidence of Fridman and Aven's involvement in the war in Ukraine. Latvia is contesting this decision.
However, the EU sanctions remain in place as they were extended in 2023 on separate grounds, citing Fridman and Aven's status as "leading businessmen involved in the economic sector providing a significant source of revenue" for the Kremlin.
The former head of Alfa's investment division, Andrey Kosogov, had the smallest stake in the oligarchs' empire until 2022, when he bought out Khan and Kuzmichev's stakes in Alfa-Bank and LetterOne, becoming the largest shareholder of both companies. As indicated in correspondence obtained by FT, Kosogov agreed on a deal to purchase Fridman and Aven's stakes in Alfa-Bank through a Cypriot holding company and secured an agreement to finance the purchase with a loan from the state-owned Gazprombank.
Photo: Kommersant