Suleiman Kerimov, 47, is known as Russia’s most secretive oligarch. Photos of the investor and business tycoon are rare, and interviews practically unheard of. This is despite his larger-than-life persona. Kerimov’s exploits include hiring Beyoncé to entertain Wall Street executives in the South of France, signing international soccer star Roberto Carlos to his backwater club in Dagestan, and crashing a $650,000 Ferrari in Nice with Russia’s sexiest TV presenter in the passenger seat.
In Saskatchewan though, Canada’s monotonous central province, Kerimov’s notoriety is rapidly increasing after a reckless business move shattered the region’s economic prospects.
Often marketed as a self-made billionaire (his current worth is estimated at $7.1 billion), Kerimov rapid ascension from a factory worker in rural Dagestan to one of Russia’s richest has been accompanied with recurring accusations of fraud, corruption and insider trading.
For his latest scheme, Kerimov entered the phenomenally lucrative potash business. The sale of potash, a salt used in fertilizer, has been dominated by two cartels for over 40 years. One of the cartels, Canpotex, is Canadian and controls North American supplies while the other, BPC, is a partnership between Belarus’ national company (Belaruskali) and the Russian firm Uralkali.
Together, the two cartels control 70% of the global potash market, allowing them to keep prices, and profit margins, artificially high. Even in this country-club business environment, however, Kerimov spied the opportunity to take an even bigger share of the market for himself.
From 2010-2013, the Russian oligarch began to build up his stake in Uralkali, eventually reaching 25%. At the same time, Uralkali increasingly consolidated its control of BPC operations so that, if the companies separated, their Belarusian partners would have no choice but to sell themselves to the Russians, unable to function on their own.
In July 2013, Kerimov pulled the trigger and Uralkali announced its decision to break free from the cartel, lower its prices and increase output in a grab for greater market share. The immediate consequences were devastating. The price of potash fell by over 25%, crushing the economic prospects of Belarus and Saskatchewan, Canada.
Saskatchewan is the world’s largest exporter of potash and, according to some estimates, Kerimov’s move could halve economic growth in the province, possibly costing a good deal of Canadians their jobs.
As for Kerimov, things have taken also taken a turn for the worse as he suffers the wrath of Alexander Lukashenko, the mustachioed dictator of Belarus. Lukashenko has arrested several of Uralkali’s Russian executives and has issued a warrant for Kerimov.
In a last-ditch attempt to bring Uralkali stock prices up, Kerimov has leaked rumours that a businessman with better connections to the Kremlin will buy his shares. In September, the lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky announced the billion-dollar sale on his Facebook page, which must be a first.