Deputy Minister of Finance became a candidate for the post of head of ALROSA

Deputy HEAD of the Ministry of Finance Alexei Moiseev became a candidate for the post of CEO of ALROSA, sources told RBC. Its current leader is Sergei Ivanov, who fell under US sanctions a year ago. ,decided to go privateAlexey Moiseev

Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev, who has been a member of the Supervisory Board of the world's largest diamond mining company ALROSA (ALRS) for almost five years (since June 2018), has become a candidate for the post of its CEO. This was told to RBC by a federal official and confirmed by a source close to the company's management.

In December 2022, RBC sources said that Sergey Ivanov, who has headed ALROSA since March 2017, decided to resign before the expiration of his employment contract (ends in the spring of 2025). Then the interlocutor, surrounded by a top manager, specified that he could go to one of the structures associated with Gennady Timchenko's Volga Group, as a partner in one of the projects. The Volga Group does not comment on this.

“S.S. Ivanov is at his workplace and deals with the operational issues of the group of companies on a daily basis," ALROSA's press service told RBC on Wednesday, February 22, in response to a question about the change of CEO.

ALROSA produces a quarter of all diamonds in the world. In 2021, its revenue grew by 50% to RUB 332 billion, driven by a 42% increase in rough diamond sales and a 13% increase in prices. The company's net profit increased by 2.8 times, amounting to 91.3 billion rubles. The company decided not to publish results for 2022. The Federal Property Management Agency owns a 33% stake in ALROSA, the government of Yakutia owns 25% plus one share, and another 8% belongs to the Yakut uluses. The remaining 34% are traded on the stock exchange.

The press service of the Ministry of Finance (its head Anton Siluanov is the chairman of the Supervisory Board of ALROSA) and Moiseev himself declined to comment. The representative of the administration of the head of Yakutia also did not comment on the issue of changing the general DIRECTOR of the company. RBC sent a request to the press service of the federal government.

What preceded the upcoming reshuffle

In March 2020, the Supervisory Board of ALROSA re-elected Ivanov to the position of CEO - Chairman of the Board for a period of five years. “Despite the difficult situation that we are witnessing in the diamond market, ALROSA has retained its leading position in the world in terms of diamond mining, is confidently improving production efficiency and management quality, and has strengthened its reputation and trust on the part of partners, shareholders and investors,” he said at the time. Siluanov.

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Ivanov then named among the company's tasks for the near future - to increase "adaptation" to rapidly changing realities, maintain business stability, despite "macroeconomic instability", and continue to work on increasing the efficiency of production and sales. But already in the middle of 2021, he was going to leave the company to go into private business, and was preparing a shift for himself to ensure continuity, a source close to the leadership of ALROSA told RBC. However, after the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine and the imposition of Western sanctions, these plans were shelved.

Sergey Ivanov to step down as head of ALROSA Business

On the first day of the special operation, February 24, 2022, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against Ivanov, who is the son of Sergei Ivanov, the president's special representative for environmental protection, ecology and transport. The American authorities explained this by the fact that they consider his father "Putin's closest ally", and also by the fact that Ivanov Sr. worked as the head of the presidential administration, deputy prime minister and minister of defense. Subsequently, CANADA, Australia and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on the head of ALROSA.

In early March 2022, the US Treasury included ALROSA, along with other Russian state-owned companies, on the sanctions list, prohibiting them from raising capital through the issuance of shares and bonds in the United States. In April, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury expanded sanctions against the company - new restrictions included freezing assets. After that, Ivanov asked the Supervisory Board to reduce his salary by half. “It was his personal initiative, it does not concern the rest of the employees,” a company representative said. ALROSA invited customers to pay for diamonds in euros and other currencies rather than dollars, and then suspended publication of monthly sales data. But at a meeting with the head of Yakutia, Aisen Nikolaev, at the end of last year, the head of the company said,

At the end of 2022, it was discussed that the change of the CEO could take place before the end of the first quarter of 2023, a source close to the company's management told RBC. But, according to him, the process "slowed down" and no corporate actions are being taken. He suggests that the reshuffle could now take place at the annual shareholder meeting, which usually takes place in June.

What is known about Alexei Moiseev

Alexey Moiseev turns 50 in March, he graduated from the State Academy of Management. Sergo Ordzhonikidze with a degree in world economics, studied at the master's program at the University of Rochester (usa). Before joining the civil service, he built a career as an analyst in large investment banks. From 1998-2001, he worked in the Fixed Income Market Operations Department at BNP Paribas France in London. Then he worked for Renaissance Capital for nine years, and since 2010 he became the head of the macroeconomic analysis department at VTB Capital.

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In 2012, Moiseev, like a number of other VTB analysts, moved to the civil service, becoming Deputy Minister of Finance. For ten years at the ministry, he has been in charge of the financial market, as well as the department for state regulation of the precious metals and precious stones industry. In March 2018, he was nominated to the board of directors of ALROSA instead of the ex-head of the Department of the Ministry of Finance Sergey Barsukov, who had recently joined this diamond mining company. It would be better if, after the resignation of Sergei Ivanov, the company is headed by a person who is well acquainted with internal processes, like Alexei Moiseev, and not a candidate from the outside, explains the logic of choosing a candidate, a RBC source close to the leadership of ALROSA.

Moiseev himself stated in an interview with RBC in September 2022 that the Russian economy no longer needed settlements and savings in dollars: “The dollar has definitely become a toxic currency, no doubt, like the euro, by the way. I don't think it's needed. I support those experts who believe that there is no need to accumulate assets in this currency. Actually, this is impossible. Even if we are talking about non-sanctioned persons, it is absolutely meaningless.” A little later, speaking at the session "Diamonds as an investment instrument" at the Moscow Financial Forum, he said that a significant share of private investors' savings in foreign currency could be replaced with "investment diamonds", since in the current conditions it is less risky to hold them than cash foreign currency. Diamonds 'take up much less space'