100 richest Ukrainians ranking sees 20 new millionaires

Much has changed in the fortunes of the 100 richest Ukrainians over the last year, according to Ukrainian weekly magazine Focus, which has published its annual ranking of 100 richest Ukrainians.

The turmoil that started with the Crimea annexation and the start the war in the Donbas in 2014 finally started to subside in 2016, and in comparison to 2015, the financial health of some of Ukraine’s richest people improved, the magazine reported.

In 2016, food products and grain accounted for more than 40 percent of Ukraine’s exports.  So agricultural tycoons are starting to rub shoulders with the old metals and oil oligarchs – more than 16 agro-millionaires made it onto this year’s list.

There are also 20 new millionaires in the new ranking, with most of them being connected to the agricultural business and food industry.

However, Donbas oligarch Rinat Akhmetov is still Ukraine’s richest person. In 2017 he is worth $2.2 billion.  In 2016, Focus estimated his wealth to be $ 3.1 billion.

The Donetsk oligarch lost $900 million in a year, but his business DTEK Holding started making more profits in 2016 due to the rise in utility tariffs for business and the public, and because of the increase in steel market prices.

Privat Group co-owners Igor Kolomoisky ($ 1.2 billion) and Gennady Bololubov ($ 1.2 billion) took second and third place in the ranking – the same positions they had in 2016.

Media and metallurgy mogul Viktor Pinchuk was another non-mover: in 2017 he remained the fourth richest man in Ukraine with $1.1 billion.

Rising up the list was Andriy Verevsky, the founder of the Kernel Agro Holding, worth $871 million, who made it to fifth place in the ranking.

Last year fifth position was taken by oligarch and Opposition Bloc lawmaker Vadim Novinsky, who, according to the Focus magazine was worth $1.6 billion. But since 2015 he has lost more than half of his fortune, and in 2017 is worth only $550 million, pushing him down to 11th place in the richest ranking.

Group DF founder and fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash dropped from eighth to ninth place in 2017.

Since 2016 oligarch, who now faces extradition to the United States, has lost more than $200 million and is now worth $623 million. Living costs and lawyer fees appear to be high in Austria, where the oligarch lives in exile.

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko took honorary 10th place in the ranking, rising two places from last year.

But while Poroshenko rose in the ranking, according to Focus, his actual wealth has fallen. In 2016 he was worth $730 million, while in 2017 his fortune is $589 million.

He lost part of his fortune due to the closure of his Roshen factory in Russia, which will cost the president’s confectionary business approximately $36 million in lost revenues per year, Focus reckons.

Kyiv Post publisher Mohammad Zahoor took 35th place in the richest ranking, with $180 million dollars.

There are 20 new millionaires in 2017 Ukraine, according to Focus.  All of the newcomers are connected to the agriculture, oil, and construction businesses and the food industry.

Kharkiv-based businessman Pavel Fuks, the founder of MCG construction corporation with a fortune $270 million, was 24th in the ranking. Taryan Group construction company co-owners Nver and Arthur Mkhytaryans, with a $223 million family fortune, came in at 28th place.

Rafael Goroyan, the agriculture mogul and CEO of grain trading company Prometey, who is worth $90 million, took 65th place in the ranking.

Nemiroff alcohol company co-founders Yakov Grybov and Anatoliy Kipish, each worth $34 million, rounded off the rich list at 99th and 100th place.  According to Focus, 30 percent of Ukraine’s alcohol exports are Nemiroff products.