Famous for
Co-founder of the Absolut investment and development holding company, formerly one of Russia’s largest property developers. One of the largest landowners in the Moscow area.
Assets
As of 2022, he owned 76% of Absolut Group with authorized capital of 9.74 billion rubles (approximately $108 million). The holding includes:
- Property developer Absolut Real Estate with a net profit of 41.86 million rubles (about $615,000) for 2022;
- Insurance company Absolut Insurance with a net profit of 618 million rubles (about $7.27 million) for 2023;
- Property developer National Development Company, with a net profit of 119.5 million rubles (about $1.78 million) for 2022;
- City&Malls, one of the leading players in the Moscow market for the management and operation of commercial real estate;
- IT company Absolut Technologies
- Comfort City management company.
Alleged owner of 72-metre yacht Cloudbreak, worth $90 million (about 6.12 billion rubles).
Alleged owner of a Gulfstream G650 business jet worth about $73 million (4.672 billion rubles).
Interests and hobbies
- Svetakov is a big fan of tennis. He has built tennis courts in the Zhukovka XXI club village, whose founders included businessman Evgeny Chichvarkin and Senator Dmitry Sablin. Svetakov also sponsored the Kremlin Cup tennis championship. His organizations were partners in the Davis Cup and have run their own tournaments.
- The businessman loves surfing, his yacht is often spotted in the best spots for the sport, and even its name – Cloudbreak – is the same as the famous Fijian surfing reef. Absolut sponsored the Island music and surfing festival in Bali.
Professional history
Born in Moscow on 15 February 1968.
After school he served in the USSR Armed Forces for two years.
He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM) in 1993. During his studies he worked part-time as a stagehand at the Moscow House of Artists.
At the same time, he met his future business partner in the courtyard of the building where he lived, the latter being involved in the import of equipment for sale from Singapore. Together they founded the trading company Absolut in 1990.
Unlike many entrepreneurs at the time, the partners ran their business legally, and by 1994 Absolut Trading House was supplying products to all the most popular retail tech chains: Eldorado, Technosila, M.Video and Mir.
In 1993, Svetakov and his partners established Absolut Bank to service their business operations. The organization managed to survive the 1998 bankruptcy of the trading house and, while other companies went bankrupt, Absolut’s business boomed.
In 1998, Absolut Bank acquired a 25% stake in the Euro-Policy Insurance Company. By 2011, Svetakov’s organizations owned 84.21% of the company, and in 2016 it was renamed Absolut Insurance.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Svetakov’s companies began to invest in construction projects in Moscow (for example, in cooperation with PIK Group, Capital Group and Miel), buying up land in the Moscow region on which to build cottage settlements and apartment buildings. This was facilitated by a 2002 law that simplified transactions involving agricultural land.
In 2007, the entrepreneur sold Absolut Bank and founded the development company Absolut Real Estate, which focuses on construction projects and the acquisition of new assets.
During the same period, the Absolut Group portfolio was expanded to include stakes in the Ust-Luga port in Leningrad Region, a gold mining operation in Yakutia, the Sangalyk diorite quarry, the Mirage casino in Moscow, the Megapack beverage company and a red caviar producer.
In 2016, Svetakov’s organizations completed their first construction project in New York. By 2021, the project had grown to seven residential complexes, with apartments sold for a total of $900 million (about 65.7 billion rubles).
In 2018, Svetakov sold the Absolut trading house, in 2019 he started selling office real estate, and by 2021 his holding had divested itself of all major assets except for the insurance and development business.
Deals and ventures
- Svetakov received about $1 billion (25 billion rubles) from the sale of Absolut Bank to the Belgian group KBC in 2007.
- Absolut Trading House was sold to Latvian company ELKO Group in 2018 for 1.5–3 billion rubles (about $24–48 million), according to experts.
- Since 2019, Absolut Group has invested $50 million (about 3.2 billion rubles) in the startup Mafin, an online insurance platform that determines insurance prices based on big data.
- Svetakov received at least $270 million (about 17.28 billion rubles) from the sale of office space in 2019, according to Forbes estimates.
Achievements
- Since 2012, he has been included in Forbes’ annual list of the 100 richest businesspeople in Russia.
- In 2015, he was named Forbes Russia’s Philanthropist of the Year.
- In 2017, he was included in the top ten of Forbes Russia’s Real Estate Kings rating.
Criticism and disputes
- In 2021, following charges against the businessman, the court convicted and sent to prison the owner of the Rast development company and two executives of the National Development Company owned by Svetakov. The latter were accused of embezzling 292 million rubles (about $4.36 million) in dividends during the construction of the luxury Skolkovo Residence in 2016.
- In 2019, Svetakov asked the court to recognize him as one of the creditors of Alexander Fedotov, the former editor of the Russian Forbes. Fedotov owed more than 640 million rubles (about $10 million) to various people, including 7.7 million rubles (about $120,000) to Svetakov. The bankrupt Fedotov’s property was sold at auction.
Attitudes to Russian–Ukrainian conflict
Hasn’t spoken out publicly.
Community work
- Svetakov founded the charitable foundation Absolut Help in 2002. The organization has 562 grant projects that fund initiatives to help children and young adults in vulnerable situations on a lottery basis, with a total budget of 1.157 billion rubles (about $12.85 million) in 2024.
- In 2013, Svetakov donated $1.35 million (about 42 million rubles) for treatment, medication and rehabilitation equipment for his beneficiaries. In 2014, the entrepreneur opened a correctional boarding school in the Serpukhov region for 800 million rubles (about $21 million).
- In 2023, together with Vverkh (Up), an organization that helps children from orphanages, Svetakov began building an additional training centre for children who have left the care system.
Additional information
Married, five children.
Source for information: Forbes.com, Forbes.ru, Secrets.tinkoff.ru, Kommersant.ru, Banki.ru, Rbc.ru
