Smushkin ilim. Resort twists and turns. Ilim Group and its impact on the Russian economy

The head of the company "Ilim Pulp Enterprise" Zakhar Smushkin is a unique personality in the domestic business. The first and until recently the most powerful forest oligarch. One of the few St. Petersburg businessmen who managed to spread their business throughout Russia and even beyond its borders back in the 90s. And, finally, he is, perhaps, one of the first in Russia of the 21st century who managed to outright lose his empire. Today, he has actually lost the best of his enterprises - the Kotlas Pulp and Paper Mill - "the core of the timber industry group," as Smushkin himself called it. Dreams of turning into a monopoly of the industry have already disappeared, we have to fight so that the remnants of the empire do not fall apart. But until recently, no one could even think about it ...

Rise of a hero

So, Zakhar Davidovich Smushkin was born in 1962. Father David Smushkin, mother Inga Naumovna. All together they lived in Leningrad on Ochakovskaya street. Rumor has it that Zakhar Davidovich also had a younger brother, Fedor, who went to live in the USA in the early 90s. We will mention him and his role in the life of his brother later. Almost nothing is known about the childhood and adolescence of Mr. Smushkin. He himself does not expand on this matter, and he does not want to repeat the rumors already said and not confirmed in any way about enuresis allegedly tormenting the hero, an offensive nickname associated with this disease, conflicts with peers. It's an old thing, and does it really matter?
The official biography of Zakhar Davidovich begins in 1984, when he graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Pulp and Paper Industry. Do not call this university provincial. No, this institute really trained high-quality personnel for the entire pulp and paper industry. By the way, before moving to Leningrad University, it was here that the late mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak worked. And, apparently, quite good economists were trained here - today many graduates of this university head firms and various enterprises In Petersburg.
However, it must be admitted that it was also impossible to call this institute prestigious. Why did the parents send Zakhar to enter here? They say that with the grades in the school certificate, he was not doing well. But main reason, I think, lies on the surface - his middle name speaks for itself. 1979, tacit anti-Semitism in high school- it was almost impossible to get to the full-time faculty at the same Leningrad State University with such a name. Evening and correspondence students, the army shone, but I didn’t want this either: as they scared me in childhood, if you go into the army, they will be sent to Afghanistan. In general, they chose "pulp" as the safest and most realistic option.
In 1984, Zakhar Smushkin, after graduating from the university, remained in graduate school. In the scientific field, he did not become famous for anything, which suggested that graduate school was needed again in order to avoid service in the ranks of the Red Banner. After graduate school, he was distributed to NPO Hydrolizprom. The NGO, among other things, was engaged in devices for the processing of ethyl alcohol. According to some rumors, the first joint business of Smushkin and his permanent partners, the brothers Mikhail and Boris Zingarevich, consisted precisely in the sale of by-products of distilleries.
In the future, versions of the rise of the St. Petersburg forest king differ. So, for example, it is believed that in 1990 the Russian-American company "Technoferm-Engineering" was created, where Smushkin was invited to work. However, only one joint venture with this name was registered in St. Petersburg at that time, and it was Russian-Swedish. True, according to other sources, it was a Moscow company, and Smushkin was the head of the technology department there.
One way or another, the appearance of the "great and terrible" Ilim is connected with this firm. During 1992, Smushkin and the Zingarevich brothers re-registered Technoferm LLP several times. A certain I. Golubkov flashed among the founders. As they say, this chemist helped Smushkin and his brothers work on alcohol, the scientist had access to the then first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU Gidaspov. And then Smushkin allegedly brought in a certain Leonid Erukhimovich, an Israeli citizen who had solid connections in financial circles.
As a result, on April 30, Ilim Pulp Enterprise was registered, where Technoferm owned 50%, 40% owned by the Swiss company Intersez, and 10% owned by the Ust-Ilimsk timber processing complex. It must be assumed that the participation in the IPE of the Ust-Ilimsky plant is evidence of already established contacts with this plant. Actually, the very name of the established company is translated as "Ilim pulp". It is interesting that Ilim received control over this enterprise only this year.
And of course, it is worth stopping at the main shareholder of Ilim, Intersez S.A. Because of her presence among the shareholders of Ilim, it was much said that Russian company actually owned by foreigners. In fact, it certainly does not belong to any foreigners. As established by the Accounts Chamber, Interces was registered in Switzerland on July 1, 1991 with an authorized capital of 50,000 francs. The auditors never received information about the founders of Intercez. According to one version, the company was originally founded by Erukhimovich, but now it is widely known that the owners of the company are still the same - Zakhar Smushkin, Boris and Mikhail Zingarevichi.
It was through this Swiss office that the leadership of Ilim scrolled through its affairs. At first they acted as traders of the products of sawmills and pulp mills, and then they began to take off rapidly: they began to buy up timber enterprises on the cheap, moved to pulp mills. In 1994, they took over the Kotlas Pulp and Paper Mill, the best enterprise in the industry. The empire began to grow.

Shenanigans without disguise

It seems to me that there is no point in dwelling in detail on how and what was acquired by Ilim. Simply because tons of newspaper articles and reports from regulatory authorities have already been written about this. Let us just recall that until recently the company owned stakes in the following enterprises: OJSC Kotlassky Pulp and Paper Mill - 51.08%, OJSC Bratskcomlleksholding - 37.52%, NPF St. Petersburg - 100%, ZAO New Kom - 88.64%, In Yure LLC - 70%, OP Ilim LLC - 70%, ArkhYugInform Information Agency CJSC - 51%, Ilim Pulp Siberia CJSC - 100%, Soyuz Inform CJSC - 35%, Ilim Pulp Exim LLC -100%, Ilim Pulp Trading LLC - 100%, Ilim Pulp Koryazhma LLC - 100%, Kasmet-Happiness LLC - 100%, Kosmos CJSC - 78%, JSC Complex - 41.06%, JSC Velsky KLPH - 27.4%, JSC Tegrinsky LPH - 31.92%, JSC Shonoshsky LPH - 51.34%, JSC Litvinovsky LPH - 36.44%, Erogodsky LPH OJSC - 20.79%, Tograles LLC - 32%. A number of other enterprises are under their control.St. Petersburg Cardboard and Printing Plant, Kommunar Paper Factory, 28 logging enterprises , Trade company Petroboard Trading, Logistic company"Fintrans", Firm "Kommunarvtorresursy" (preparation of waste paper), Czech factory "Plzeńska Papirna".
More interesting is why, having risen so high, Zakhar Smushkin today has every chance of breaking so painfully. Yes, it has already actually crashed, having lost the largest pulp and paper mill in Europe and the best pulp and paper mill in Russia ...
It is difficult to talk about civilized business in Russia even today, and even in the 90s it was simply ridiculous. Therefore, blaming Mr. Smushkin and his comrades for their ways of doing business is not very smart. One can only accuse them that they did not cover their tracks very much and did not shine with special imagination in the matter of financial scams. Schemes of fraud are so transparent that they are not even very interesting. Here is just a brief summary of what has been done by Smushkin and Co. in the last decade.
"Ilim Pulp" acquired a block of shares, and then control over the Kotlas Pulp and Paper Mill as a result of the so-called investment competition, in which there was one applicant - "Ilim". The Accounts Chamber found that it was wrong, unfair, etc. But the most interesting thing is how the investment policy was carried out, under the cover of which Ilim did not pay dividends to shareholders until 2000.
The decision was voiced: not to pay dividends, to invest profits in enterprises. Here, the benefit immediately began to work, according to which investments are exempt from taxes. The money was credited to the accounts of the enterprise in order to return back to the accounts of "Ilim" or "Intercez" in a day. The reporting was clean, and the money exempted from taxes remained with the owners. This is how the "Ilimovites" worked at all their plants.
This scheme has already been repeatedly voiced and the main claim, in addition to tax evasion, is that as a result of such "investment" the equipment at the pulp and paper mill became obsolete, the wages of workers were lower than at other enterprises in the industry. Workers cannot quit their jobs in order to move to enterprises that are more profitable for them. In fact, any of the large pulp and paper mills is a city-forming enterprise; people in the same Koryazhma, where the pulp and paper mill is located, have nowhere to work except at the plant. Moving, for example, to Novodvinsk, where the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill is located, is a very difficult matter. It turns out that something like slaves, entirely dependent on the owners who do not want to pay more.
Another example of the primitive creation of money out of thin air is the same equipment upgrade. If "Ilim Pulp" was going to buy machines, then the seller was chosen by its affiliated structures, often "Intercez". As a result, machine tools cost the combines two or even three times more, the money was again diverted to the West.
Finally, everything was wrong with the sale of pulp. As it turned out, Ilim bought products from its enterprises at an extremely low price, much lower than international ones. At this price, for example, cellulose ($350 per ton) was sold to Interces or other resellers (Interpulp Limited, Interpulp Trading Ltd, InterBoard, Alcana Limited and others), which are also controlled from Geneva. Well, and Mr. Erukhimovich raised the price bar to the market level (for example, $500 per ton) and sold it on European markets. The proceeds remained in Swiss bank accounts. In general, the usual thing is money laundering, the withdrawal of capital abroad.
However Russian experience suggests that such machinations alone are not the reason for such big problems that the head of Ilim Pulp is now facing. In our opinion, there is a more important component here - this is the manner of "working" with partners and competitors. Indeed, in Russia it was possible to deceive the state, the people as much as you wanted, but to deceive specific businessmen working with you ... - you will always have to pay for this.

Friendship is friendship, but give back the shares

For some reason, all of Mr. Smushkin's partners after a while became his enemies, or at least retreated from him. Some paid for it with money, some with their lives.
On March 10, 2000, in the northern capital, not far from the Prince Vladimir Cathedral, Dmitry Varvarin, the general director of the Orimi Concern CJSC, was killed. He was shot dead when he got out of his Jaguar and went to the house.
Concern "Orimi" has existed since 1990, when Dmitry Varvarin organized a joint Soviet-American venture "Orimi Wood". Soon this company became the leader in the production and export of lumber in the North-West of Russia. It was thanks to Varvarin that Ilim Pulp managed to get the Bratsk Timber Industry Complex. "Orimi-Wood" owned the shares of the enterprise, and D. Varvarin was a member of the board of directors of BLPC. Later, Smushkin and Varvarin conducted a swap (share exchange). As a result, the latter became a shareholder of Ilim. But it didn't last long. As a result of the additional issue, Smushkin & Co diluted Varvarin's stake to a few percent.
And then Varvarin was killed. Who and why has not yet been established. But the fact remains that the owners of Ilim benefited from this. They got rid of an aggressive and tough competitor, who also forced them to invest in politics - Varvarin was the main sponsor of the former deputy chairman of the Accounts Chamber, Yuri Boldyrev. The relations of the partners were probably tense and, who knows, whether Dmitry Varvarin, who liked to play on the verge of a foul himself, initiated the already mentioned inspection of the Kotlas Pulp and Paper Mill by the auditors of the Accounts Chamber.
Other partners of Zakhar Smushkin in "Ilim Pulp" could now help the "foresters" to build reinforced concrete protection. But failure at IPE follows failure, and this is most likely a consequence of their previous relationship with partners.
One of the allies of "Ilim" for a long time was the St. Petersburg banker Vladimir Kogan ("Promstroybank of St. Petersburg"). Now he is known as the only one of the Petersburgers who is part of the group of oligarchs with whom Vladimir Putin regularly communicates. And in general, Vladimir Kogan was repeatedly called "the most equidistant oligarch." Friendship with such an influential person could solve many of Mr. Smushkin's problems. In "Ilim Pulp" they still counted on this six months ago. Then, we recall, the "foresters" wanted to acquire 20 percent of the shares of the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill, headed by the well-known Pomor oligarch Vladimir Krupchak. "Ilim Pulp", according to our information, courted him for another year from 1998, but always ran into a categorical refusal. Every year, APPM became more and more "tidbit" and at the end of last year, Ilim openly announced that it was planned to purchase APPM shares. As a result, everything turned out wrong, this package was sold just to Vladimir Kogan.
Representatives of Ilim, winking slyly at this, said that the purchase was actually a maneuver, and then a friend, Kogan, would sell the shares to them. They seemed to be able to count on friendship, because two years ago Vladimir Kogan had a 38% stake in Ilim Pulp. St. Petersburg "Promstroybank" has repeatedly provided the company with loans. In general, the union was strong. However, in the spring of 2001, Kogan unexpectedly parted with his shares - they were taken by Smushkin and the Zingarevich brothers. Recently, Vladimir Kogan admitted that Promstroybank, being the main creditor of Ilim Pulp Enterprise, was constantly dissatisfied with its clients - it was almost impossible to get a clear report on the use of credit funds from this corporation, and the money was spent on some dubious needs. But Smushkin and the Zingarevichs also refused to accept the claims, considering it more acceptable to simply get rid of principled financiers.
Why would a banker suddenly make such sudden movements? There is no absolutely accurate information, but according to sources, Kogan was simply squeezed out of the company's shareholders. Maybe not to share, maybe for some other reason. After that, he had no reason to be friends. Therefore, he made an alliance with the opponents of Ilim Pulp.
Zakhar Davidovich also had one more "partner", today perhaps even more influential than the president's banker. We are talking about the deputy head of the presidential administration, a member of the "St. Petersburg team" Dmitry Medvedev.
At the beginning of this year, a very expressive note appeared in the Arkhangelsk tab of "Arguments and Facts". We will give it without abbreviations, and then comment it out:
Will St. Petersburg beat Abramovich?
The uproar raised around the seizure of the Bratsk timber processing complex by the Sibal industrial group touched our region as well. Thus, cooperation ties between Ilim Pulp Enterprise and the Titan company unexpectedly appeared. But there's something else behind the scenes...
At one time, when Z. Smushkin, chairman of the board of directors of CJSC Ilim Pulp Enterprise, fought with the regional Assembly for the Kotlas pulp and paper mill, his interests were defended by a "modest" lawyer Dmitry Medvedev. He began working for Ilim Pulp Enterprise after V. Yakovlev came to power in the northern capital. For A. Sobchak, Medvedev was an expert of the Committee for Foreign Relations of the St. Petersburg Mayor's Office, which was headed by ... V. Putin.
Z. Smushkin helped D. Medvedev in a difficult time for the last time. While working at Ilim Pulp Enterprise, D. Medvedev visited Koryazhma and Arkhangelsk more than once. Today Dmitry Medvedev is the deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Russia and not the last member of the so-called St. Petersburg group.
I wonder if D. Medvedev will be able to help repel the onslaught of the oligarchs O. Deripaska and R. Abramovich?
Dmitry Medvedev, indeed, was a longtime partner of Mr. Smushkin. Joint business them started in 1993. December 16, 1993 in St. Petersburg on Shpalernaya Street, 49, the Finzell joint-stock company appears, the founders of which were Smushkin, the brothers Zingarevich and Dmitry Medvedev. The latter contributed 50% of the total authorized capital, namely 500,000 rubles.
A year later, on December 7, 1994, another firm appeared on the same Shpalernaya Street, 49. This time it is a joint venture of In Jure LLP, founded by Ilim Pulp Enterprise (70%) and the Swiss company VALMET S.A. (thirty%). Medvedev is appointed director of the newly opened organization. And, finally, on April 2, 1996, the limited liability partnership JV "Ilim Pulp Enterprise" is transformed into a closed joint-stock company. The founders are: the aforementioned AOZT Finzell (40%) / read 20% Medvedev D.A. /, the Swiss company "Intertsez S.A." (40%), Kotlas Pulp and Paper Mill (10%) and Ust-Ilimsk Timber Concern (10%).
In 1993, Dmitry Medvedev served as director of legal affairs at IPE, and since 1998 he has become a member of the board of directors of BLPC. And then again it is not clear: by the fall of 1999, he breaks off all his relations with Ilim, leaves the founders of Finzell CJSC, his share goes to Interzez. Why? Again, according to indirect data, Putin's experienced lawyer perfectly saw how money is being pumped out of the same BLPK. He had a conflict with Smushkin, they wanted to put all the blame on Medvedev for this pumping of assets. As a result, the gap, and Medvedev leaves. It's funny, in parting, he gave "Ilim Pulp" a small gift - he found them a new building on Marata Street, not far from Nevsky Prospekt. He had been there, in the office of one company, and he liked the premises. As a result, Ilim now lives here, while Medvedev works in the Kremlin and seems to have no desire to support Mr. Smushkin.
As a result, what we have: the oligarch, who, like many oligarchs, sucked money out of the country firmly and tastefully, transferring it to Swiss banks, came under attack from competitors. And in this situation, when it is necessary to use all connections and opportunities, it turns out that at the very top, where the oligarchs are punished or pardoned, there are two of his "sworn friends", whom he once neglected. As the saying goes, don't dig another hole...

Recent connections

What remains for Smushkin and his comrades? They still have a good administrative resource. Not only in Arkhangelsk, where, according to rumors, they found a common language with representatives of some law enforcement agencies. Ilim also has higher patrons. According to our information, Zakhar Davidovich favorably responded to the call of the presidential plenipotentiary representation in the North-West to sponsor the infamous program "Dialogue", within the framework of which public receptions of the plenipotentiary are being opened throughout the district. He invested a lot of money in this political project of Viktor Cherkesov, for which he received support, in particular, from the North-Western Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was thanks to these connections that Smushkin and Co received OMON buses and the police, who tried to block the Kotlas Pulp and Paper Mill.
Mr. Smushkin also has acquaintances and friends in the State Duma. He has a particularly close relationship with the deputy Vladislav Reznik. The latter in St. Petersburg was the director and owner of the joint-stock insurance company Rus, and maintained close ties with Ilim. They simply had one "roof" in the person of a certain Vladimir Borisov (a former warrant officer of the GRU special forces) and his security company FORPOST. Subsequently, Borisov was prosecuted on suspicion of murder, as well as for illegal possession of weapons.
Reznik, in turn, is in good relations with Voloshin's deputy - Dmitry Kozak. However, it seems that Smushkin does not have to wait for help from his Moscow friends. More recently, Ilim Pulp's attempt to contact Vladimir Putin through German Gref ended in failure and scandal. The story of the draft letter from the IPE to the president, in which the head of the Ministry of Economic Development appeared as a messenger and herald of a disgraced timber holding, removed from the agenda the question of the intervention of the supreme power in the conflict on the side of Zakhar Smushkin. Gref is very annoyed by this, and the rules of the apparatus struggle dictate to him that it is necessary to step aside from forest affairs.
In general, Zakhar Smushkin has no one left, even his old partners, the Zingarevich brothers, in fact, do not feel keen love for him, and on many key issues the opinions of the "Ilimovsk triumvirate" diverge radically.
In a situation where business collapses, the mask of a prosperous rich man, a high-flying bird, flies off any person, and he remains who he is. Who will appear as the "forest king" Zakhar Smushkin, a lover of tennis and chess?
Having lost business, only those who have not lost themselves will be able to rise, and Zakhar Davidovich Smushkin seems to have big problems with this.

A family

About the personal life of a businessman Zakhara Smushkina not much is known.

His wife and adult son are not public people. The media only report that the Smushkin family appreciates intellectual and sports leisure - chess, tennis, collecting art.

Biography and business

Since studying at school, Zakhar Smushkin decided to connect his future with forestry activities and entered the Leningrad Institute of Pulp and Paper Industry.

At the university, Smushkin proved to be a promising student, and in 1984 he received recommendations for postgraduate studies. As a result of defending his Ph.D. thesis, Smushkin was awarded the degree of Candidate of Sciences.

Zakhar Smushkin began his career in the research and production association "Gidrolizprom" as a researcher, where, according to his own recollections, he gained experience necessary for the effective development of subordinate structures of the enterprise.

In 1990, a career step for Smushkin was the transition to the company "Technoferm-Engineering" to the position of head technical department. New employee soon gained significant influence in the management of the enterprise and began to modernize production processes, search for new partners and investors.

The company became crowded within the framework of the joint venture, the management decided to restructure and consolidate.

On April 30, 1992 CJSC "Ilim Pulp Enterprise" was established. The founders of the new company, along with Technoferm-Engineering, were the Ust-Ilimsk timber industry complex and the Swiss transnational concern Intertsez. CEO newly formed joint-stock company was Zakhar Smushkin.

At the beginning of its existence, "Ilim" was a small company exporting pulp abroad, but rather quickly shifted from trading directly to timber production.

Smushkin has been developing the Ilim company for about ten years. During this time, the company became the owner of three dozen initially disoriented and bloodless plants.

The largest of them are the Kotlas Pulp and Paper Mill and the Ust-Ilimsk Timber Processing Plant, bought in 1994 and 2000, respectively. The company persistently went to their acquisition for more than one year.

In addition, Smushkin's company bought a predominant stake in the Bratsk Forestry Complex, which has become one of the holding's most efficient enterprises.

For quite short term thanks to the managerial skills of Zakhar Smushkin, the industry, which was in deep stagnation, was literally pieced together. In many ways, the recovery of the economy of the North-West region of the Russian Federation and the timber industry as a whole is due to the effective functioning of Ilim.

In 2001, Zakhar Smushkin became the head of the board of directors of the Ilim holding. The businessman increased his authority in the market, maintaining not only the previous volume of activity, but also ensuring profit growth.

In 2007, Ilim Group OJSC appeared on the international market. InternationalPaper, a transcontinental giant in the field of logging and production of pulp and related products, decided to invest in the renewal of the holding.

Cooperation with a large American company imposed additional obligations on the holding in the field of compliance with the requirements of the law, not only Russian Federation, but also the United States, which was reflected in the tightening of the internal audit of Ilim. At the same time, Smushkin retained the post of chairman of the board of directors, continuing to this day to manage the strategic development of the Ilim Group.

As of the end of 2016, the Ilim Group is the most influential conglomerate in Russia and European countries, the sixth in the list of global producers and harvesters of forest resources.

Ilim has the largest fleet of modern logging equipment in Russia, thanks to which over 10 million cubic meters are harvested annually on an area of ​​30,000 hectares. m of raw wood. It owns three-quarters of the pulp produced in our country, a fifth of the cardboard market and a tenth of the paper market in Russia.

Based in St. Petersburg, Zakhar Smushkin's group has representative offices in Moscow, Arkhangelsk and Irkutsk, as well as branches in cities and towns close to the places of procurement and production (Koryazhma, Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk, etc.).

In the light of the events that led to the formation of the Ilim Group in 2007, Zakhar Smushkin decided to invest own funds in the creation of a network of retail enterprises. In 2006, several do-it-yourself stores called "Start" were opened in St. Petersburg, presenting goods for repair and improvement.

Today, the network has been reformatted and includes Domovoy home goods stores and several Start hypermarkets offering everything for repair and construction. All of them are located in the largest cities of Russia.

The year 2007 was marked by the appearance on the market of OJSC "Start Development", which today is one of the leaders in the construction market of the North-Western District. Today, "Start Development" is developing an unprecedented project - the construction of a satellite city "Yuzhny" in the Pushkinsky district of the Leningrad region.

To date, Smushkin announces the attraction of investments in the amount of more than 209 billion rubles. For the purposes of the project, more than 2012 hectares were purchased on both sides along the M20 highway (Kiev highway). In 2011, the project was given strategic status. For Russia, Yuzhny will become one of the largest projects for the integrated development of the territory. The total area of ​​residential real estate will be 4.9 million square meters. m., which is designed for at least 170 thousand people, commercial real estate an area of ​​1.5 million square meters. m. is designed to create more than 60 thousand jobs. Residents will be provided with recreation areas and all the necessary infrastructure - 60 kindergartens, 30 schools, 10 medical centers. "Yuzhny" will be represented by low-rise buildings with housing designed for average incomes. The total period of the project, in fact, the construction of the city from scratch, is only 19 years.

In their public speaking Zakhar Davidovich Smushkin repeatedly noted that the polycentric path of economic development, that is, the presence of several economic centers, is very important for St. Petersburg. And the purpose of the implementation of the project of the satellite city "Yuzhny" is precisely the formation of a new center of the city's agglomeration.

Already at the first stage of the project, Zakhar Davidovich provided an area for the development of one company, and not a pool, as previously assumed. Such measures will ensure not only careful control, but also the unity of the architecture of the buildings under construction.

This project is unique in its kind. According to the plan, the infrastructure in Yuzhny will be integrated into environment- for example, municipal transport will run on electricity (so-called electric cars), and lighting of street crossings will be provided by solar panels. Several applications will be created for residents, with the help of which they can find the nearest stop, track the route of public transport, make an appointment with a doctor or maintain a medical record.

"Yuzhny" is also intended to become a kind of silicon valley, since construction will be carried out in it innovation center"Innograd of science and technology" on the basis of ITMO (St. Petersburg National research university information technologies, mechanics and optics). Its main goal is the creation, localization and development of international research and production and educational clusters. The target specialization of Innograd will be photonics, quantum technologies, robotics, and the creation of new technological materials.

The construction of the whole city also poses the problem of solving the transport issue. Already at this stage, the Kiev highway has been reconstructed to six lanes, and an interchange has been built on the project site. A light rail line will be built in the closest to the satellite town. In addition, the proximity of Yuzhny to several transport routes (M11, M10, Ring Road) and the presence of a railway line and two stations on its territory will allow residents to get to the center of St. Petersburg in 30 minutes.

In general, the implementation of the project will be able to attract investments in many industries, including logistics, trade, production of building materials, consumer services, thus increasing the investment attractiveness of St. Petersburg.

Another major project owned by the Start Development company is Doni-Verevo, an industrial park in the Gatchinsky district of St. Petersburg. More than 30 logistics and manufacturing enterprises will be located on the territory of 185 hectares.

It is known that the lumber merchant is engaged in charity, without exposing this activity for show. According to rumors, Zakhar Smushkin takes the problems of people with handicapped. “The Ilim Group creates jobs for them, and in the Domovoy and Start networks, disabled people receive support, both technically and socially.

Zakhar Smushkin's personal initiative was to prevent layoffs even in the current difficult period caused by tense relations with the EU countries and demonstrating a serious drop in exports.

Politics, social activities

In 1999, Zakhar Smushkin became a member of the state Expert Council for Economic Development and Investment under the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwestern Federal District.

Zakhar Smushkin is a member of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, where he shares his experience in creating effective strategic plans for the development of production.

On December 16, Zakhar Davidovich made a presentation at a meeting of the Presidium of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of St. Petersburg. He noted the importance of the issue of attracting highly qualified personnel to the northern capital, and also raised the issue of intensifying the attraction of investments to implement the strategy for the socio-economic development of the city for the period up to 2030.

The specifics of the timber industry is reflected in the activities of Smushkin in the presidium of the Confederation of Timber Industry of the North-Western District of Russia.

The biography of Zakhar Smushkin also includes active educational activities. He is an honorary professor at the State Technological University of Plant Polymers in St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg State Forest Engineering University named after S.M. Kirov awarded Zakhar Smushkin an honorary doctorate.

FROM educational institutions Smushkin cooperates quite actively: he gives lectures, and helps undergraduates during their work experience - he provides them with jobs in the companies of the Ilim group.

One of Ilim's priorities is to maintain a positive balance in planting and clearing forests. Zakhar Davidovich, as a member of the Council for the Development of the Forest Complex, actively contributes to the implementation of its activities, making recommendations for improving and developing the state of the forest wealth of the Russian Federation.

At the second International Forum of Spatial Development, held on September 26-27 in St. Petersburg, Smushkin voiced his own concept of the economic development of the northern capital - polycentrism. In his opinion, not one economic center is developing in the city, but at least two. They will be the business public complex "Lakhta Center" in the Primorsky district and the satellite town "Southern" in Pushkin (north and south of the Leningrad region).

Income

In the list of the wealthiest Petersburgers, Smushkin occupies the sixth position, the Delovoy Peterburg edition estimates his income at 108 billion rubles.

In Russia, Zakhar Davidovich Smushkin takes 37th place in the ranking of successful businessmen, 52nd place was assigned to him in terms of capital.

Rumors

In 1996, Zakhar Smushkin joined the Supervisory Board of VTB, in which he was until 1998. Participation in the work of the council brought dividends, in particular in the form of expanding opportunities for resolving financial and economic issues own enterprise, which led to even greater progress "Ilim Pulp Enterprise".

Experts linked the success of the Ilim Group with the principles of reverse vertical integration of the enterprise's development. The strategic decisions of Zakhar Smushkin still give Ilim business trump cards that allow it to remain among the leading players in the economic arena for more than 20 years.

As part of cooperation with WWF, Ilim Group signed an agreement to suspend logging activities in a limited area of ​​the Arkhangelsk region, which is a unique, practically undisturbed biogeocenosis. Since this territory is not protected at the legislative level, the company entered into a lease agreement with a moratorium on logging on a charitable basis.

In 2016, the businessman exhibited in the Hermitage an extensive collection of arts and crafts by Japanese masters of the Meiji era. He collected it on his own for 7 years, at the moment the collection contains more than 700 exhibits. In addition, in the future, Smushkin plans to transfer it to a permanent exhibition in the museum of the satellite city Yuzhny. The businessman plans to create a gallery of modern art in the northern capital, the collection of which could also be made up of private collections of entrepreneurs.

Smushkin Zakhar Davidovich was born on January 23, 1962 in St. Petersburg. Smushkin's childhood passed in St. Petersburg, where he studied in high school and studied at the university. In his youth, the future entrepreneur was an example for many peers, distinguished by a cultural manner of communication, responsibility and extraordinary determination. Zakhar Smushkin studied perfectly, without causing problems to his parents.

The biography of Zakhar Smushkin is a good example of how a person from an ordinary family, thanks to patience and intelligence, reached extraordinary heights in his life. The main achievements of Smushkin are impressive:

• Founded the Ilim Pulp company, holds the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors,
• He is a member of the Presidium of the Russian Community of Entrepreneurs,
• He is an honorary doctor of the St. Petersburg State Forest Engineering University named after S. M. Kirov,
• He is an honorary professor at the St. Petersburg State Technological University of Plant Polymers,
• He entered the ranking of the most successful businessmen (Smushkin was given an honorable 37th place).

In terms of capital, it is located at 52 positions.

Education

Alternatives to choose from future profession there were many, but Zakhar Davidovich Smushkin stopped his choice at the Institute of Pulp and Paper Industry.

As a result, Zakhar Smushkin went to apply. Studying at this university predetermined the choice of future work. Smushkin was a capable student, so in 1984, upon completion of his studies, he decided to continue his studies in graduate school, which he graduated with the status of a candidate of technical sciences.

It was during his studies that Zakhar Smushkin gained his first experience in the paper industry, as he combined his postgraduate studies with activities at NPO Hydrolizprom, where he was a researcher. In the early nineties, he began to move up the career ladder in the Soviet-Swedish company Technoferm-Engineering, which was the impetus for his further success.

Business

The biography of Zakhar Smushkin, as an entrepreneur, started in 1992, when, at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, he, in the company of his classmates Mikhail and Boris Zingarevich, created the Ilim Pulp Enterprise company, specializing in the export of paper goods abroad.

The strategy was successful and soon Smushkin Zakhar Davidovich earned his first capital by starting to invest in the development of his small enterprise at that time. Subsequently, he managed to turn it into a large timber holding, which gradually included thirty domestic logging companies. During the first eight years, the entrepreneur was the head of the Kotlas Pulp and Paper Mill, the Ust-Ilimsk Timber Concern and the Bratsk Forestry Complex. Due to his professional qualities and diligence, these enterprises began to develop rapidly. Over time, the magnate became a member of the Bureau of the Board of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists of the Russian Federation, where he leads the Russian Forestry Commission.

However, Smushkin did not stop at the creation of the largest timber industry corporation in the country. Therefore, a talented entrepreneur decided in parallel to try himself in the trade sector, creating a network of Domovoy supermarkets in St. Petersburg, which sells small household appliances and household goods.

In addition to the timber industry, Zakhar Smushkin also specializes in construction. He runs the Start Development enterprise, which today is building the satellite city Yuzhny in St. Petersburg. Buildings are located on 5.3 million square kilometers of area, four million of which will be allocated for residential buildings for 134 thousand people.

The key achievement of Zakhar Davidovich, as a businessman, was the stable development of the Ilim Pulp holding, which managed to maintain the scale of production, despite the economic crisis. At the end of 2015, the corporation received a revenue of two billion.

In 1996-1998, Zakhar Smushkin was a member of the Supervisory Board of VTB. In 1997, he received a seat on the board of directors:

• Bratsk LPK;
• timber concern in Ust-Ilimsk.

In addition, he chaired the KPPM, and since 2001, the Ilim Group. In 2004, Zakhar Davidovich was elected to the leadership of the RSPP, and in 2007 he became the head of the board of directors of the Ilim Group.

Like any prominent figure, a businessman has competitors. For several years, he has been worthy of competing with Oleg Deripaska, not losing his rating. Nevertheless, competition did not prevent Smushkin from taking the right course of management and bringing his enterprise to the right way development, which has a beneficial effect on the Russian economy. At the moment, OJSC Ilim Group is not only the largest Russian association enterprises of the forest industry, but also the most technically advanced and environmentally oriented.

How the fortune of a billionaire has changed in 2016

Zakhar Smushkin was given an honorable 6th place in the “Rating of billionaires of the Russian Federation-2016”. His fortune is estimated at 108 billion rubles.

The businessman owns assets (for 2016):

• Group "Ilim"
• "Start Development"
• Trading network "Domovoy"

Future plans

Smushkin considers optimization of control over companies, improvement of their financial indicators. Zakhar Davidovich also plans to restructure the holding by bringing it to the stock market. All of these ideas include maintaining openness and transparency. Smushkin Zakhar Davidovich firmly believes that the future of his companies is in good hands, and their appointment within the country is global and significant. An early entry into the stock market will help achieve new goals and is a very cost-effective prospect. To date, we have already managed to prepare a plan for further development, which will lead to new changes in the company.

It seems to Zakhar Smushkin that the holding is expecting a reorientation from a geographical principle to product lines. In addition, the entrepreneur continues to develop all important areas, planning to buy some European trading companies. Great amount goods are sent to Asian countries, so it is possible that subsidiaries will be opened there as well.

Charity

Zakhar Smushkin has successfully established cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund. In 2012, his company entered into an agreement with the fund, according to which the Ilim Pulp enterprise, on a voluntary basis, refused to harvest wood in unique forests, the number of which is rapidly declining on the planet. The parties to the agreement initially agreed on the boundaries of the territory (the Verkhnevashkinsky forest area, located in the Arkhangelsk region, cannot be used for industrial purposes). Today the company leases these lands. However, before the expiration of the agreement, a ban on deforestation in these places has been introduced.

Personal life

In addition to the development of the timber industry in the Russian Federation, Zakhar Davidovich is fond of intellectual games such as chess. In addition, he really likes tennis.
Zakhar Smushkin's passion for painting is also known. He owns a collection of famous artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, among which the entrepreneur highlights Mikhail Vrubel. In 2016, in the Forbes ranking, the businessman was in 114th place among the richest domestic entrepreneurs. Zakhar Davidovich's fortune is estimated at 750 million dollars.

The story of the entrepreneur Zakhar Smushkin

The starting point of an impressive career ladder Zakhar Davidovich can be considered 1984 - it was then that he graduated from the Leningrad Technological Institute of the Pulp and Paper Industry and began labor activity. He got a job at the scientific association "Hydrolizprom" and at the same time continued his studies in graduate school.

On April 30, 1992, Smushkin, together with familiar specialists (among whom was Boris Gennadyevich Zingarevich, who also graduated from LTI PPI), gave life to a new timber company - Ilim Pulp Enterprise. Four years later, Zakhar Smushkin transferred his offspring to another form of ownership - CJSC.

It was in the middle of the difficult 90s that Zakhar Smushkin's company, under his strict guidance, grew to a federal scale. Thanks to the active implementation modern technologies and vertically integrated structure "Ilim" got the opportunity to successfully compete with the largest timber industry organizations in Russia and Europe.

Interview with Zakhar Smushkin

In 2001, Zakhar Smushkin took the chair of the Board of Directors of OAO Ilim Group. In 2003 he was awarded the title of honorary doctor of the St. Petersburg Forestry Academy.

Personal life of Zakhar Smushkin

Zakhar Smushkin now

Zakhar Davidovich implements his ideas in the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, is a member of the Council of the State Technological University of Plant Polymers in St. Petersburg and the Presidium of the Confederation of Timber Manufacturers of the Northwestern District of Russia.

GKU "Petersburg Property" draws up documents for a long-term (49 years) lease of two plots on Lesnaya Street in Komarovo.

In 2010, Smolny donated these and two more allotments for the construction of a geriatric center. individual entrepreneur Ekaterina Tsarapkina, wife of Zakhar Smushkin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ilim Group. On two sites with a total area of ​​1.5 hectares (to the west of the intersection of Osipenko and Vodopyanov streets) in 2016, a private boarding house "Sputnik" was opened. The land under it was privatized. Ekaterina Tsarapkina, the territory cost 5.4 million rubles, or 36,000 rubles per hundred square meters - this amount was set by the city in the contract of sale. It is calculated according to the city law on setting the price of land plots with a coefficient of 0.25 of the cadastral value, the KIO explains.

Two more spots along Lesnaya Street (also 1.5 hectares) were included in the general land portfolio for the project of the geriatric center. The first allotment is located at the intersection of Lesnaya and Ilyich lane. The second one is north of the intersection of Lesnaya and Ozernaya streets. They are separated not only by the Lake, but also by an impressive territory of about 5800 sq.m (belongs to the city and is reserved for Kindergarten), there are no common boundaries between the plots. The investor built structures for inventory storage (55 sq.m), board games (65 sq.m) and several pavilions (22 sq.m each). Structures managed to be registered as objects capital construction and put into operation in the State Construction Supervision Service with virtually no objections from officials. In 2016, the Property Relations Committee filed a lawsuit to recognize the IP’s ownership of the buildings as missing. However, he himself withdrew the application a few months later. The court considered the document signed by the former deputy chairman of the KIO Vladimir Filanovsky convincing and terminated the proceedings. The company applied for privatization, but Smolny refused, citing the disproportionate size of buildings and plots. But no one objected to the provision of sites for long-term lease.

It should be noted that this is not the first time that Smolny is giving away plots in the elite Komarovo inexpensively or simply for free. So, in April last year, the State Unitary Enterprise "DO" Prigorodnoye "sold 13 acres at Pogranichnaya Street, 10 for 2.832 million rubles (about 215,000 rubles per hundred square meters). The buyer was the adviser to the governor Georgy Poltavchenko Valeria Sokolova. And in June, the city handed over 47 acres to the street for free. Vasilyeva, 4 St. Petersburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is the territory of the summer residence of the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Varsonofy. KIO, in response to public complaints, stated that the dacha was used for religious purposes. And the prosecutor's office added that the house is involved in the religious activities of the diocese, in particular, it serves "to accommodate the clergy and pilgrims in order to ensure liturgical activities."

It is not the first time that entrepreneurs use investment agreements to obtain state land and then resell it profitably. So, yesterday the structure of the company

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