The new-Canadian establishment: the Russian warrior
September 27, 2005
Macleans
PETER C. NEWMAN
When I walked into Alexander Shnaider's room in London's luxurious Lanesborough hotel, adorned with Regency furniture and wall hangings, the suite was awaft with the sweet smell of money. It's the kind of luxury hostelry, located between Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace, where guests have personal 24/7 butlers trained to unpack their bags and coordinate their social itineraries.
[...]
This {Russian billionaire} definitely is a warrior. His peregrine eyes can kill. At 36, he is too young to have fought any wars, but he carries firepower in his brain and his calm manner is deceptive.
[...]
He spent his youth helping in his parents' North Toronto delicatessen, delivering newspapers and eventually graduating from York University with a degree in economics. In 1989, as the Soviet Union collapsed, he left to work in a steel trading house in Zurich, then set up his own shop in Belgium, but didn't make any real money until he moved to Ukraine, where, among other things, Shnaider would import US$40 microwaves and trade them for US$150 units of hot-rolled steel. Then he sold the coils to Asian traders and eventually (with English partner Eduard Shifrin, who has a doctorate in metallurgical engineering) managed to win control of Ukraine's fourth-largest steel mill.
[...]
Then there was the power grid that lights up most of Armenia, which he bought as a lark for $24 million while on a brief visit in 2002, though he knew nothing about the business which was losing an annual $64 million and carried $40 million in debt. He almost set off a revolution when he cut off electricity to customers who refused to pay their bills. He has since turned the troublesome company around and is negotiating to sell it for about $125 million.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Macleans
PETER C. NEWMAN
When I walked into Alexander Shnaider's room in London's luxurious Lanesborough hotel, adorned with Regency furniture and wall hangings, the suite was awaft with the sweet smell of money. It's the kind of luxury hostelry, located between Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace, where guests have personal 24/7 butlers trained to unpack their bags and coordinate their social itineraries.
[...]
This {Russian billionaire} definitely is a warrior. His peregrine eyes can kill. At 36, he is too young to have fought any wars, but he carries firepower in his brain and his calm manner is deceptive.
[...]
He spent his youth helping in his parents' North Toronto delicatessen, delivering newspapers and eventually graduating from York University with a degree in economics. In 1989, as the Soviet Union collapsed, he left to work in a steel trading house in Zurich, then set up his own shop in Belgium, but didn't make any real money until he moved to Ukraine, where, among other things, Shnaider would import US$40 microwaves and trade them for US$150 units of hot-rolled steel. Then he sold the coils to Asian traders and eventually (with English partner Eduard Shifrin, who has a doctorate in metallurgical engineering) managed to win control of Ukraine's fourth-largest steel mill.
[...]
Then there was the power grid that lights up most of Armenia, which he bought as a lark for $24 million while on a brief visit in 2002, though he knew nothing about the business which was losing an annual $64 million and carried $40 million in debt. He almost set off a revolution when he cut off electricity to customers who refused to pay their bills. He has since turned the troublesome company around and is negotiating to sell it for about $125 million.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 8:12 AM
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