RBC: Goldman Sachs restructured Russian assets between local top managers

Goldman Sachs sold part of its assets in Russia to Maksim Klimov, Managing Director of the Bank’s European Special Situation Group, and Anton Schreider, Managing Director of Goldman Sachs in Russia. This is reported RBC with reference to sources. The deal took place last year.

“The deal could have been cash, but at a big discount. After the start of the military operation in Ukraine, Goldman Sachs was ready to withdraw from Russian assets, regardless of losses, ”said one of the interlocutors of the publication. He noted that until February, Goldman Sachs invested in Russia more than Baring Vostok, and its own funds, and did not collect various investors in funds.

The source of RBC added that the main assets of Goldman Sachs in the Russian Federation are shares in HeadHunter Group PLC (owner of HeadHunter), Cian PLC (owner of CIAN) and IXcellerate Limited (parent structure for a data center operator in Russia).

Documents testify to changes in the structure of Goldman Sachs’ Russian assets. For example, HeadHunter documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) say that a new structure has appeared among its investors – Broomfield International Limited. Its share was about the same as the share of Goldman Sachs was reduced – 2.9% (the share of Goldman Sachs fell from 8.7 to 5.9%).

Broomfield International Limited acquired more than 6.57 million, or 9.4%, of Cian shares in December. As of February 14, 2022, structures affiliated with Goldman Sachs owned 10.1% of the company. At the same time, in November 2022, Maxim Klimov and Anton Schrader registered in Dubai Broomfield Proprietary Investments Ltd, consonant with Broomfield International Limited.

Mr. Klimov and Mr. Schrader served on the board of directors of UK-registered IXcellerate Limited several years ago, which owned 51% of Goldman Sachs at the beginning of 2022. RBC found out that since about November last year, the company began talking about the fact that it is owned by “Russian individuals.”

In March it became known that Goldman Sachs started to the curtailment of activities in Russia against the backdrop of the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine. It became the first major Wall Street bank to leave the country since February 24th.

Daria Erozbek