Alexander Leonidovich Mamut (Russian:Алекса́ндр Леони́дович Маму́т; born 29 January 1960)[1] is a Russian-Israelibillionaire, oligarch, lawyer, banker and investor.[2][3] Until 2020, he was a co-owner ofRambler Group.[4][5]
In June 2022,Forbes estimated Mamut's net worth at $2 billion.[3]
Alexander Mamut was born on 29 January 1960. His father is Leonid Solomonovich Mamut, a lawyer and one of the authors of theRussian Constitution. His mother, Cicilia Ludwigovna, is a defense attorney. In 1977, Mamut graduated from Moscow gymnasium #17. He studied law atMoscow State University, graduating in 1982.[6]
In 1990 Mamut founded ALM-Consulting law firm (ALM abbreviated after Mamut's name) and served as Managing Partner there throughout 1990–1993. In 1991, ALM Consulting partnered with Frere Cholmeley Bischoff, a law firm based inLondon and headed byTim Razzall from 1990 to 1994, in order to establish many offshore shell companies with which ALM Consulting would create the offshore shell company through Frere Cholmeley Bischoff for $300 and then ALM Consulting would sell that same offshore shell company for $5000.[5][18] In 1993,Roman Kolodkin[f] introduced Mamut toIgor Shuvalov who worked at theRussia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the legal department as an attache.[21] According to an interview published in the Russian independent newspaperMeduza, Mamut hired Shuvalov as a senior advisor to ALM. On behalf of the company, Shuvalov conducted special assignments with offshore companies and transported money.[21][22] Such Russian oligarchs asAlisher Usmanov,Roman Abramovich, andBoris Berezovsky were among the largest clients of ALM Consulting in the 1990s.[21][23][24]
Mamut founded the Design Bureau "Company of Project Financing" (KOPF) (Russian:ЗАО КБ "Компания по проектному финансированию" (ЗАО КБ "КОПФ")), which is a bank, in 1993, and served as its chief executive officer until 1998. In 1996, KOPF donated 280 million rubles toBoris Yeltsin's election campaign.[25] Meanwhile, he was the co-founder and director of Sedmoy Continent from 1993 to 1997.[citation needed] He was the founder of ALM Development and remained an investor until 2001.[citation needed]
Mamut was Chairman of Moscow Business World (MDM-Bank) (Russian:«Московский Деловой Мир» (МДМ)) orMoskovsky Delovoy Mir (MDM) from 1999 to 2002.[citation needed]
Mamut acquired 60% of the Spar Moscow Holding in 2009. He also acquired the Torpedo-ZIL football club for the symbolic price of $1. Two years later, in 2011, he invested in the Nomos-Bank. He is a large investor inIngosstrakh, the insurance company, andTroika-Dialog, an investment bank.[26] He has also invested inPolymetal International, a mining company, andPIK Group, a construction company.[7]
Mamut founded the SUP Company in 2006, and acquired LiveJournal Russia in 2007.[citation needed]
In May 2011, afterJames Daunt and Alexander Mamut were introduced through a mutual friend, Mamut acquiredWaterstones, a UK-based bookstore chain, through Capital Fund Management Limited, a subsidiary of Mamut's A&NN company, for the equivalent of $66 million.[31] Mamut then named James Daunt as themanaging director of Waterstones, replacing Dominic Myers.[32][33] Mamut later sold off a majority stake in April 2018 toElliott Advisors, valuing the company at $250 million withN M Rothschild & Sons handling the deal, and Elliott retained James Daunt as CEO of Waterstones.[32][34][35][g]
Mamut became the sole owner of the SUP Media in December 2012.[37] In 2013, he acquiredLenta.ru.[38] By 2014, he became the Chairman of Rambler&Co.[7]a Russian news website.[39] In 2014, he firedGalina Timchenko, the editor of Lenta.ru, for publishing an interview with a far-right Ukrainian nationalist.[40][41] She was replaced by a pro-Kremlin journalist.[41]
He acquired sports betting firm Rambler in 2016, selling a 46.5 percent stake to Sberbank in December 2019.[42] Mamut was subsequently involved in an intellectual property rights dispute between Rambler and Sberbank.[42]
A&NN acquired two Moscow art-house cinemas, also showing some foreign mass market films - "Pioneer" in 2008, and the Khudozhestvenny in 2016. In 2017, they acquired movie chains Cinema Park and Formula Kino.[43]
In 2020, Mamut sold Rambler to Sberbank.[5] Sberbank acquired 45% of shares in Rambler Group from Mamut in 2020, whereby Sberbank's share inRambler Group increased to 100%.[44]
He fled Russia after the start of theRussian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, reportedly selling everything he had in Russia except his apartment before the military operations started.[45]Forbes said his wealth was at $1.3B in Jan 2025, and that he lived inTel Aviv, Israel.[46]
Mamut is a widower from his second marriage.[7] He has five children.[7] As of 2016, he resided inMoscow, Russia,[7] with a secondary residence inKensington, London. He also owns a yacht.[26] He has given grants of £200,000 toEton College.[41]
^In June 1995,Vagit Alekperov replaced Rem Viakhirev as chairman of the board ofCommercial Bank "Imperial".[11] Although Viakhirev resigned as chairman of the board of Imperial Bank in June 1995, Gazprom continued to maintain its accounts with Imperial Bank.[11]
^Because of the very large debt that Ukraine allegedly owed Gazprom by August 1995, theOleg Boyko, who is allegedly a KGB agent,[12] associated National Credit Bank (Russian:банк "Национальный кредит", AКБ "Национальный кредит"), instead of Imperial Bank, serviced a $1.4 billion Ukraine government bonded loan.[11][13][14][15][16][17]
^During 1997,Pavlo Matvienko became associated with National Credit Bank.
^abcdefМаксим Акимов, Глеб Баранов, Михаил Логинов (25 May 1996)."Газовый концерн и банки" [Gas Concern and Banks] (in Russian). Kommersant. Retrieved22 March 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ПЕЛЕХОВА, ЮЛИЯ (PELEKHOVA, YULIA); СКВОРЦОВ, ЯРОСЛАВ (SKVORTSOV, YAROSLAV); БАРАНОВ, ГЛЕБ (BARANOV, GLEB); ЛОГИНОВ, МИХАИЛ (LOGINOV, MIKHAIL) (5 December 1996)."Слухи об отзыве лицензии у банка: Сумерки "Национальный кредит"" [Rumors about revoking the bank's license: Twilight "National Credit"].Kommersant (in Russian). Retrieved28 August 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
