alpha group . alfa group consortium type private conglomerate industry diversified investments founded 1989 founder mikhail fridman german khan alexei kuzmichov headquarters moscow russia area served russia ukraine turkey cis key people mikhail fridman german khan alexei kuzmichov petr aven revenue us 16.613 billion ye2012 1 profit us 2.722 billion ye2012 1 total assets us 82.598 billion ye2012 1 total equity us 21.279 billion ye2012 1 subsidiaries alfa bank alfa capital management alfa capital partners alfastrakhovanie group altimo vimpelcom tnk bp x5 retail group a1 group rosvodokanal group website http www.alfagroup.org alfa group consortium russian is one of russia s largest privately owned investment groups with interests in oil and gas commercial and investment banking asset management insurance retail trade telecommunications water utilities and special situation investments . alfa group s portfolio of companies includes alfa bank tnk bp vimpelcom x5 retail group a1 group alfa capital management alfastrakhovanie group and rosvodokanal group . the group was founded in 1989 as alfa eco by mikhail fridman one of the most influential business leaders in russia during the yeltsin presidency and one of the russian oligarchs in partnership with german khan alexei kuzmichov and several other partners . its headquarters are in moscow . as a holding company in the financial year ending december 2010 alfa group had total assets of us 59 900 million total equity of us 21 790 million and profit for the financial year of us 2 810 million . return on shareholders equity were recorded at 13.4 % . 1 in april 2012 altimo sold its entire 25.1 % stake in megafon to a private investor and to megafon for us 5.2 bln . 2 contents 1 ownership structure and joint ventures 2 legal disputes 3 dispute with norex and bp 4 dispute with telenor 4.1 farimex vs. telenor 4.2 agreement 5 dispute with teliasonera 6 links to the icelandic financial crisis 7 references 8 external links ownership structure and joint ventures edit alfa group has ownership stakes in the following companies and joint ventures alfa banking group which includes alfa bank russia wholly owned commercial and investment bank and one of russia s largest private banks alfa bank ukraine one of the ten largest banks in ukraine banks in the netherlands amsterdam trade bank belarus and kazakhstan as well as financial subsidiaries in cyprus united kingdom and the united states . alfastrakhovanie group one of the largest russian insurers with a diversified portfolio of comprehensive business and retail insurance products . x5 retail group formerly the largest food retail operator in russia in terms of sales . operates pyaterochka one of the largest discount grocery retailers in russia in terms of sales perekrestok which runs a leading chain of supermarkets in russia kopeyka a leading discount grocery retailer and karusel one of the largest hypermarket chains in russia . listed on london stock exchange under the symbol five . alfa group owns 47.86 % of the company 19.85 % stake belongs to the founders of pyaterochka . tnk bp one of the top ten privately owned oil companies in the world in terms of crude oil production . the company was formed in 2003 as a result of the merger of bp s russian oil and gas assets and the oil and gas assets of alfa group access industries and renova group aar . 3 bp and aar each own 50 % of tnk bp . in 2013 the company was acquired by rosneft . 4 vimpelcom one of the world s largest groups of integrated telecommunications services operators . listed on the new york stock exchange under the sympol vip . alfa through altimo owns 24.998 % norwegian telco telenor owns 25.007 % of shares and 29.626 % stake is owned by weather investments of sawiris family . turkcell turkey s largest mobile operator . alfa group controls 13.22 % stake in the company with swedish telco teliasonera . rosvodokanal group a leading private operator of water utilities in russia and cis . a1 group former alfa eco wholly owned special situations investment company . letterone group an investment vehicle specialising in ebergy technology and private equity . 5 alfa capital management an asset management company which serves russian as well as international institutional and private clients . there are a number of current disputes regarding alfa s ownership of various stakes clarification needed in telecoms companies . citation needed alfa group is notably involved in a commercial dispute with norwegian mobile phone company telenor over the control of russian company vimpelcom 6 legal disputes edit over 10 years alfa group has found itself in legal battle with business partners from canada norex great britain bp sweden teliasonera norway telenor turkey and indonesia . federal reserve executive paul volcker has accused alfa group of violation of the un sanctions against iraq during saddam hussein s regime and for pressure exercised against kpmg during their investigation of a bermuda registered russian telecom company . 7 dispute with norex and bp edit alfa group s legal disputes with bp date back to 1991 when the canadian oil company norex represented a newly formed russian canadian joint venture in siberia s oil industry operating the marginal chernogor oil fields close to khanty mansijsk . with the russian company chernogorneft the canadian company entered into a 60 % ownership in the joint venture yugraneft . later on norex increased their stake to 97 64 % and in september 1998 chernogorneft was filed with bankruptcy by the tyumen oil company tnk . the arbitration court of khanty mansinsk proclaimed for chernegorneft a new chief executive officer with a background from alfa group . 8 the main owner of chernogorneft was british petroleum bp via their holding company sidanko . tnk gained control over 60 % of chernogorneft s debts and the debt of us 35 million held by ebrd was reduced to us 9 million by khanty mansijsk arbitration court on 30 july 1999 . thereby tnk controlled 60 % of the debt claims and according to norex the alfa group took over chernogorneft s oil sales below market prices . 8 resulting in a forced sell out of the company sidanko bp was rejected from taking part in auctions and remaining bidders were legally restrained from offering more than us 200 million for chernegorneft a mere fifth of its assumed value . on 26 november 1999 tnk took over all of chernorogneft for us 172 million . letters of protest from prime minister tony blair to president vladimir putin helped little the legally bp owned company was forcibly sold to tnk below market price . tnk also got approval from the khanty mansijsk arbitration court to take over chernogorneft s stakes in two joint ventures in spite of protests from venture partners norex and occidental petroleum . bp fought on for years to retrieve its rightful ownership in chernogorneft and in august 2001 this got its first legal approval . in 2000 according to norex tnk started to undermine yugraneft s oil transports through the national semi monopolistic pipeline system transneft . on 11 april and 26 june 2001 tnk again got two legal victories in the khanty mansijsk arbitration court first through a reversal of earlier regulation regarding chernogorneft s stock capital in the joint venture and thereafter through a nullification of the voting powers in 497 142 out of the 600 000 shares held by norex . at an extraordinary annual assembly of yugraneft on 28 june norex candidate for the ceo position was elected but the day after tnk s security executive and 20 heavily armed guards appeared at the yugraneft office with a false annual assembly protocol installing mr. a. berman as ceo of yugraneft . norex demands for investigation and nullification remained fruitless . norex brought the case before a u.s. federal court in new york in february 2002 demanding us 1.5 bn in redemption from tnk and alfa group . 9 the year after bp and alfa group merged all their oil and gas interests into a 50 50 joint venture in spite of bp s legal and financial losses in the yugraneft disputes since 1999 . the new venture controlled both sidanko og tnk from 11 february 2003 . 10 the merger implied that norex stake of 97 % in yugraneft come under control of alfa group and bp . norex thereby saw their possessions dwindle and transferred partly to bp 11 and appealed for copies of bp documents before a us court . 12 in 2004 the u.s. supreme court sustained norex right to appeal but at a lower level the legal dispute went on for years with only gradual victories for norex . 13 for a summary of the battle of control over tnk bp see tnk bp . dispute with telenor edit alfa started investing in vimpelcom in summer 2001 . 14 the power broking between alfa group and telenor in vimpelcom started 2004 when alfa proposed that vimpelcom acquire a larger share in ukrainian radiosystems urs a small gsm operator in ukraine operating under the brand wellcom . telenor found the price of us 132 million far too high after the russian telco golden telecom had declined acquiring urs at a far lower price . 15 full citation needed in october 2004 a minor shareholder of vimpelcom lodged three lawsuits against telenor in the provinsial city of krasnodar in siberia with claims that the vimpelcom shareholder agreement be cancelled and the urs shares be acquired . in may 2005 the alfa group filed a lawsuit against telenor via alfa s daughter company eco telecom ltd contesting the declination of telenor s three vimpelcom board members to approve the urs acquisition . eco telecom especially contested telenor s vetoing power in the vimpelcom shareholder agreement . 16 after the trial alfa group declined during four years to take part in the board of managers meetings in ukrainian kyivstar thereby blocking the normal procedures of annual assemblies approval of accounts and payments of dividends . in 2008 telenor achieved several legal approvals in the u.s. federal court of appeal in new york and in 2009 the alfa group submitted to the rulings and took up normal shareholder activity in kyivstar . in russian vimpelcom however the alfa group geared up its legal battle with telenor by nominating more directors than alfa s capital share implied . in january 2007 a court of appeal in geneva switzerland ruled that alfa group had violated the shareholder agreement of vimpelcom . in november 2005 vimpelcom acquired 100 % of urs after having got approval from vimpelcoms annual assembly . thereby the alfa group owns shares in both urs beeline ukraina via vimpelcom and in golden telecom which operates in both russia and ukraine and in ukraine s major mobile operator kyivstar gsm and in turkish turkcell which owns a stake in the ukrainian mobile operator astelit . telenor and alfa disagree over the latter s ownership in three of kyivstar s competitors in the ukrainian market . 17 in 2004 alfa group s daughter company storm filed a number of lawsuits against telenor to nullify a number of provisions in the kyivstar charter and shareholder agreement . alfa group especially wanted to nullify an arbitration case that telenor had lodged in new york but was rejected . alfa reacted to their legal loss by boycotting all normal shareholder activity in kyivstar for four years from 2004 effectively blocking the business of annual assemblies and avoiding the consolidation and ratification of kyivstar s annual accounts . 15 no dividends were paid after 2003 . in february 2006 telenor took the issue to a u.s federal court in new york . on 16 december 2008 alfa group resumed normal shareholder activities joined in the election of a new board of directors and agreed to pay accumulated dividends . on 11 march 2009 the federal district court in new york ruled for the second time