The pandemic was anything but a crisis for Ukraine’s wealthiest: 76 of the top hundred wealthiest in Ukraine saw their wealth increase over the last year, according to Forbes.
Altogether Ukraine’s billionaires and millionaires are worth $44.5 billion, up from $31.4 billion last year, Forbes Ukraine reported on May 6. The entrance ticket to the top hundred rose by a third to $125 million.
This year’s ranking also saw 14 newcomers. They represent the IT and energy sectors.
In April, Forbes published the list of the richest people on the planet for the 35th time. It includes 2,755 billionaires — the most ever. Among them are seven Ukrainians with a total wealth of $19 billion, or 0.15% of the total capital of the richest in the world.
And while Ukraine’s wealthiest saw better times in 2013, the most successful year for asset gains, growth in key exports of oil, steels, wheat and corn, as well as growth in commodity prices helped those on the list increase their wealth year over year and gave them a comfortable head start in the race for 2022 list of top 100.
The top 10 richest Ukrainians in 2020 are:
Rinat Akhmetov
1. Rinat Akhmetov, $7.6 billion
Rinat Akhmetov, 53, the ironworks and energy tycoon originally from the Donbas, remains the country’s richest person in 2021, even though his net worth has decreased six-fold since 2013, according to Forbes.
In early 2020, Akhmetov’s Metinvest metallurgical holding, which generates approximately 60% of his company SCM Holding’s revenue, was on the verge of default. Low steel prices globally in the second half of 2019 caused monthly losses of $40 million for Metinvest.
Akhmetov was saved by the Chinese economy, which came out of quarantine in need of raw materials. In 2020, Akhmetov’s Metinvest company shipped 44% of its iron ore to the Asian market, twice as much as in 2019.
For the first time in five years, the Shakhtar football club, Akhmetov’s favorite project, didn’t take home any gold medals in the Ukrainian championship. FC Dynamo Kyiv, owned by oligarch Ihor Surkis, won the championship.
Viktor Pinchuk
2. Viktor Pinchuk, $2.5 billion
Pinchuk, 59, with his massive assets in the ironworks industry and media, saw his net worth almost double over the past year from $1.4 billion in 2020 to $2.5 billion. His main business asset, Interpipe, is worth $500 million.
According to Forbes, Pinchuk’s privately-owned Interpipe, which lost all of its business in Russia during its occupation of Crimea, is weighed down by heavy debts.
Pinchuk also owns Star Light Media Holding which controls nearly 20% of Ukraine’s television market.
Kostyantyn Zhevago
3. Kostyantyn Zhevago, $2.4 billion
For the second year in a row, the majority owner of the Ferrexpo mining group, Kostyantyn Zhevago, 46, cannot set foot on Ukrainian soil. In 2019, the Prosecutor General’s Office declared him internationally wanted for embezzling $90 million through his bank Finance and Credit.
Since then, the businessman has ruled the iron ore empire remotely. Ferrexpo still shows record profits: In 2020, the company’s earnings increased by 46% to $859 million.
Zhevago took advantage of the situation in foreign markets, increasing the supply of raw materials to China. According to Concorde Capital, China’s share in Ferrexpo’s revenue was 53%, compared to 23% in 2019 and 10% in 2017-2018. The company will earn more than $250 million in six months, according to Forbes.
Ihor Kolomoisky, a Ukrainian oligarch and a former owner of PrivatBank.
4. Ihor Kolomoisky, $1.8 billion
Despite his drop in net worth to $1 billion last year, former owner of now state-owned PrivatBank and owner of the Privat Group of companies, Kolomoisky came back this year with an increase in net worth, putting him back in 4th place, up from 8th last year.
The oligarch has faced several setbacks in court over the last year, though. In the latest, a $6 billion claim by Kolomoisky and his partners against Ukraine ended after the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce declared it had no jurisdiction in the case.
In March, the U.S. State Department imposed sanctions against Kolomoisky and his relatives for involvement in corruption as head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration in 2014–2015.
Genadiy Boholyubov
5. Gennadiy Boholyubov, $1.7 billion
This last year hasn’t been great for Gennadiy Boholyubov, the 58-year-old London-based businessman and former owner of PrivatBank.
In February, the Stockholm International Arbitration Court dismissed a $6-billion claim against Ukraine filed by the shareholders of oil and gas company Ukrnafta, which includes Boholyubov and Ihor Kolomoisky.
Boholyubov and Kolomoisky also co-own the informal Privat Group of companies, which include ferroalloy plants. Exports of ferroalloy fell by 25% in 2020.
Halyna Gerega
Oleksandr Gerega
6. Oleksandr and Halyna Gerega, $1.7 billion
Epicenter K, a leading construction materials and home improvement retailer with 59 stores and over 22,000 employees, didn’t let the pandemic get in its way.
In 2020, the company launched its own pharmacy and grocery store chain and announced plans to invest over $1.2 billion in the company’s development in 2021–2022.
In April 2020, Epicenter was embroiled in a scandal when personal protective equipment from China sent to help Ukraine fight the coronavirus pandemic ended up on the shelves of Epicenter K stores.
Petro Poroshenko
7. Petro Poroshenko, $1.6 billion
The country’s fifth president, who is now a lawmaker and leader of the 27-member European Solidarity faction in parliament, continued to increase his net worth in 2021.
In 2021, Petro Poroshenko, 54, declared approximately $51.2 million in cash. This number of banknotes weighs more than a ton, at least 493 kilograms in denominations of Hr 1,000 and 512 kilograms in one hundred dollars.
Poroshenko’s confectionery company Roshen, increased its net profit by 60% in three quarters of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, to $86 million.
Petro Poroshenko also became the official owner of the TV channel “Pryamy.”
Vadim Novinsky
8. Vadim Novinsky, $1.4 billion
Originally a Russian millionaire, Novinsky, 56, acquired Ukrainian citizenship in 2012 from then-President Viktor Yanukovych at the request of Petro Poroshenko, then the economy minister.
Rising prices for ore and metal have increased the value of Akhmetov’s Metinvest, and hence the wealth of the minority shareholder — Novinskiy.
In 2020, he was ordained a deacon in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Oleksandr Yaroslavskiy
9. Oleksandr Yaroslavskiy, $1.4 billion
Originally from the Donbas, the 60-year-old financial and ironworks tycoon Yaroslavskiy spent nearly $10 million on the COVID-19 prevention efforts in Ukraine, according to Forbes.
Compared to his estimated net worth in 2020 ($725 million), Yaroslavskiy made a lot of money in the last year, increasing his wealth to $1.4 billion in 2020, according to Forbes. This pushed him up a spot from 10th place last year.
Yuriy Kosiuk
10. Yuriy Kosiuk, $780 million
According to Forbes, 52-year-old agriculture tycoon Yuriy Kosiuk isn’t having the best year. A drop in global prices for chicken and a weakening of the hryvnia caused Kosiuk’s holding, MHP, a net loss of $133 million in 2020.
Last year, Kosiuk was in 6th place with a net worth of 1.1 billion after MHP increased its annual gain by $2 billion in 2019, bringing in a $30 million profit, 66% of which belonged to Kosiuk.
At the end of 2020, Kosiuk put up for sale two yachts worth a total of $172 million.
Despite losses, the board of directors for MHP still decided to pay shareholders $30 million in 2020.
The Forbes list of Ukrainian millionaires also includes:
- Sergey Tigipko, $730 million
- Viktor Medvedchuk, $620 million
- Stepan Chernovetsky, $545 million
- Mykola Zlochevsky, $540 million
- Gennadiy Butkevich, $530 million
- Andriy Verevsky, $520 million
- Viktor Karachun, $505 million
- Yevhen Yermakov, $505 million
- Yevhen Chernyak, $470 million
- Vladyslav and Iryna Chechotkin, $470 million
- Vitaliy Khomutynnyk, $465 million
- Vagif Aliyev, $460 million
- Dmytro Zaporozhets, $450 million
- Oleksiy Vadaturskiy, $430 million
- Dmytro Firtash, $420 million
- Filya Zhebrovska, $390 million
- Vitaliy Antonov, $385 million
- Oleksandr Konotopsky, $340 million
- Vasyl Khmelnytsky, $310 million
- Vitaliy Haiduk, $300 million
- Hlib Zahorny, $300 million
- Oleksiy Martynov, $300 million
- Valeriy Khoroshkovkiy, $300 million
- Vlad Yatsenko, $300 million
- Volodymyr Kostelman, $280 million
- Viktor Polishchuk, $275 million
- Kostyantyn Hrihorishyn, $275 million
- Maksym Lytvyn, $260 million
- Oleksiy Shevchenko, $260 million
- Dmytro Lider, $260 million
- Ihor and Hryhoriy Surkis, $260 million
- Adnan Kivan, $240 million
- Oleksandr Kosovan, $235 million
- Ihor Palytsa, $230 million
- Vadym Yermolayev, $220 million
- Borys Kaufman, $220 million
- Borys Lozhkin, $220 million
- Eduard Mkrtchan, $215 million
- Andriy Stavnitser, $215 million
- Oleh Rohinskiy, $210 million
- Maksym Yefimov, $205 million
- Yegor Hrebennikov, $200 million
- Svyatoslav Nechytailo, $195 million
- Taras Kitsmey, $190 million
- Borys Kolesnykov, $190 million
- Kateryna Kostereva, $190 million
- Valeriy Kiptyk, $185 million
- Stepan Ivakhiv, $180 million
- Mykola Udyansky, $180 million
- Ivan Fursin, $180 million
- Volodymyr Shkolnik, $180 million
- Andriy Zdesenko, $175 million
- Vyacheslav Moskalevskiy, $175 million
- Vadym Stolar, $175 million
- Serhiy Labazyuk, $165 million
- Heorhiy Skudar, $165 million
- Pavlo Fuks, $165 million
- Pavlo Ovcharenko, $160 million
- Vyacheslav Klymov, $155 million
- Volodymyr Popereshniuk, $155 million
- Volodymyr Prykhodko, $155 million
- Stanislav Voitovych, $150 million
- Roman Lunin, $150 million
- Oleksandr Petrov , $150 million
- Oleksandr and Serhiy Pylypenko, $150 million
- Andriy Biba, $145 million
- Nataliya Bondareva, $145 million
- Rafael Horoyan, $145 million
- Mykola Humeniuk, $145 million
- Yaroslav Liubinets, $145 million
- Oleksandr Spektor, $145 million
- Andriy Hordienko, $140 million
- Yakiv Hrybov, $140 million
- Anatoliy Kipish, $140 million
- Serhiy Krolevets, $140 million
- Stanislav Ronis, $140 million
- Ruslan Shostak, $140 million
- Tariel Vasadze, $135 million
- Volodymyr Zubik, $135 million
- Yuri Rodin, $135 million
- Serhiy Sypko, $135 million
- Oleh Vychnyakov, $130 million
- Oleksandr Dytyatkovskiy, $130 million
- Oleksandr Sukhodolskiy, $130 million
- Victor Ivanchyk, $130 million
- Vadym Nesterenko, $130 million
- Oleh Sotnykov, $130 million
- Roman Chyhir, $130 million
- Anatoliy Shkriblyak, $130 million
- Oleksandr Slobodyan, $125 million
