Sibur confirms that Putin’s former son-in-law paid $100 for company shares worth millions

Dmitry Konov, the head of Sibur, Russia’s largest petrochemical company, has confirmed that Putin’s alleged former son-in-law, billionaire Kirill Shamalov, did in fact pay just $100 for a 3.8 percent stake in the company. However, Konov maintains that the deal came with several conditions.

According to Konov, the shares were transferred to Shamalov as part of an incentive program for the company’s top management. He also underscored that it’s “incorrect” to consider the $100 price tag “a reflection of the value.” Konov maintained that Shamalov, like other top managers who participated in the program, took on a proportional share debt belonging to the company Themis Holdings, which owned Sibur shares.

Citing an unnamed source close to the company’s shareholders, RBC writes that Shalamov was subject to another condition — refusing compensation within the framework of the incentive program that was in place under the company’s previous owner, Gazprombank.

In 2010, Gazprombank sold Sibur to Russian billionaire businessman Leonid Mikhelson. As RBC recalls, four of Sibur’s top managers (Shamalov was not among them) initially became the company’s co-owners after its sale to Mikhelson: in total, they received a five percent stake. In 2013, Shamalov joined this group of four managers, who increased their stake in Sibur to 17.5 percent. 

Today, Shamalov is deputy chairman of Sibur’s management board and a member of its board of directors. He joined the company in 2008 and acquired a 3.8 percent stake in it in June 2013. In a recent report, investigative outlet IStories uncovered that Shamalov paid just $100 for these shares, drawing attention to the fact that the deal took place just months after he married Katerina Tikhonova, a woman who is widely believed to be the daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Shamalov himself estimated the market value of his stake in Sibur at $380 million.