Andrey Guryev

Famous for

• Founder and majority shareholder of PhosAgro Holding, Europe’s largest phosphate fertilizer producer and a world leader in the production of high grade phosphate.
• Former Senator of Murmansk Region in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.
• Served as an official in the Communist Party of the USSR.

Assets

• PhosAgro is Europe’s largest producer of phosphate fertilizers and supplies its products to 100 countries. The holding is ranked 10th on the Forbes list of the largest Russian companies in terms of net profit for 2023. Its value as of 2023 is 879.3 billion rubles (about $9.25 billion), with revenues in 2022 of 253.9 billion rubles (about $3.77 billion at the time). Guryev and his family’s total stake in the holding was 48.48% as of 2022.
• Guryev indirectly owns shares in the agricultural company AgroGard, which owns 150,000 hectares of land. In 2016, its value was roughly estimated at $150 million (about 9.1 billion rubles).
• In 2015, it was reported that Guryev, through a trust, owns one of London’s largest mansions, Witanhurst, which is second in size only to Buckingham Palace. Its value was estimated at $470 million (about 28.6 billion rubles at the time).
• Guryev is the ex-owner (until 2023) of an 80-metre yacht called Alfa Nero, which he bought in 2014 for $120 million (about 4.56 billion rubles).

Interests and hobbies

International Class Master of Sports in Sambo Wrestling. Won a bronze medal at the 1978 USSR Absolute Sambo Championship.

Professional history

Born on 24 March 1960 in Lobnya, Moscow Region.

From 1981 to 1983 he served in the internal troops of the Ministry of Interior of the USSR in the Dynamo sports club.

In 1983 he graduated from the Lenin State Central Institute of Physical Culture (now the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sports, Youth and Tourism, or SCOLIPE).

From 1985 he worked in the Communist Party of the USSR, first as the secretary of the committee of the Dynamo Moscow sports club, then in leading positions in the Frunzensky district committee of the Moscow Komsomol until 1990. His deputy at that time was Mikhail Khodorkovsky, another future Russian billionaire.

From 1990, he worked in the Menatep organization, which is linked to Khodorkovsky.

That same year, Guryev opened Lars, a company involved in the sale, renovation and construction of real estate in Moscow. Guryev owned 30% of the shares, while Menatep controlled the remaining 70%.

By the early 1990s, Menatep owned 25 Russian banks. The company held stakes in 32 large industrial enterprises, which were managed by the Rosprom division. Between 1995 and 2001, Guryev held various management positions in this division.

In 2001, Guryev became the head of Apatit, a phosphate rock producer within the Menatep structure. This company later served as the foundation of PhosAgro Holding.

In 2005, Guryev’s management team purchased a 50% stake in Apatit for an estimated $200 million (approximately 5.6 billion rubles). By this time, PhosAgro had become the leading company in the Russian fertilizer market.

In 2006, Guryev received a second university degree from the Plekhanov St. Petersburg State Mining Institute.

In 2001, Guryev became a member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation as a senator for Murmansk Region, where he served on various government political committees until 2013. He left office following a new ban on officials and parliamentarians holding foreign accounts and real estate.

Since 2013, Guryev’s son has served as CEO of PhosAgro. Guryev Sr. holds the position of deputy chairman of the company’s board of directors.

In 2022, against the backdrop of EU, US and UK sanctions against Andrey Guryev and his son, the former left PhosAgro’s board of directors and the latter resigned as CEO.

Deals and ventures

• In the late 1990s and early 2000s, PhosAgro Holding acquired a number of key assets that helped it grow into an industry giant. In 1999, PhosAgro acquired Balakovo Minudobrenia. In 2001, it bought ammonia producer Ammophos. Voskresensk Minudobrenia was also acquired. In 2004, the holding acquired Cherepovetsky Azot. The values of the transactions were not disclosed.
• In 2012, PhosAgro privatized 20% of Apatit (the main phosphate rock producer in PhosAgro’s portfolio) for 11.1 billion rubles (about $345 million at the time). A blocking stake of voting shares was acquired to avoid possible friction with new shareholders.
• Between 2007 and 2019, Vladimir Litvinenko, the head of the St. Petersburg Mining University, who has been linked by Russian media to Vladimir Putin, increased his stake in PhosAgro from 10% to 21%.
• In 2018, the Ukrainian subsidiary of PhosAgro Holding was sold amid Ukrainian sanctions. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

Achievements

• Recipient of the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, 4th degree, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, and the Order of Honour for his political activities in the Federation Council.
• He is an honorary citizen of Kirovsk, where Apatit is based.
• Recognized as Man of the Year 2021 in the Italian province of Puglia, where Guryev organized Orthodox pilgrimage tours. The award was given as a token of appreciation by the region’s residents for charitable assistance provided during the coronavirus pandemic.

Criticism and disputes

• In 2003, the scandalous Yukos case began. Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev were accused of fraud in the privatization of 20% of Apatit shares by Menatep in the 1990s. They were remanded in custody, and then other charges were brought against them. Subsequently, the charges regarding Apatit were dismissed by the court. This 20% stake in the company was given to the state agency Rosgosimushchestvo (Federal Agency for State Property Management).
• Between 2005 and 2011, Apatit faced tax claims of 17 billion rubles (about $586.2 million at the time). However, the company managed to prove its innocence and even received compensation of 310 million rubles (just over $10 million at the time).
• Between 2006 and 2015, PhosAgro was involved in a protracted conflict with fertilizer producer Uralchem over the latter’s overpricing and restrictions on the supply of raw materials. The companies have reached compromise solutions on a number of occasions following court proceedings.
• PhosAgro had corporate conflicts with Viatcheslav Kantor’s Acron Holding over the overpricing of raw materials. After court proceedings, the parties managed to reach a compromise solution.

Attitudes to Russian–Ukrainian conflict

Hasn’t spoken out publicly.

Community work

• Guryev is the chairman of the all-Russian children’s and youth movement DROZD, which stands for Education, Health and Spirituality for the Children of Russia. This is a multi-level educational support programme that has been in operation since 2003. Under its auspices, PhosAgro organizes about 500 events a year, and 70 institutions operate on a continuous basis, allowing over 7,000 children to study free of charge.
• According to some media reports, in 1990 he headed the Law and Order Voluntary Public Fund for financial assistance to law enforcement officers.
• PhosAgro supports social and charitable projects in the regions where it operates. For example, the company develops infrastructure and the urban environment. The holding spent 10.9 billion rubles (approximately $162.7 million at the time) in 2022 and 5.3 billion rubles (approximately $72.6 million at the time) in 2021 for these purposes.
• During the coronavirus pandemic, PhosAgro allocated 4 billion rubles (about $65.5 million) to support medical facilities in the cities where its divisions operate.
• Guryev is an Orthodox philanthropist. Eleven churches were planned to be built at the company’s facilities by 2021. Since the late 2000s, with the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus’ Kirill, the Guryev family has organized pilgrimages to Italy to visit the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for clergy and parishioners from across Russia. In 2017, PhosAgro Holding sponsored the transportation of these relics to Russia.

Additional information

Married with two children.

Source for information: Forbes.com, Bloomberg.com, Forbes.ru, Council.gov.ru, Ria.ru, RBC.ru