Deal making and the turn to gold
Kerimov made his money as an investor who bought large stakes in Russian companies, often using borrowed money, and sold or restructured them later. In the 1990s he moved from Dagestan to Moscow and became involved in banking. In 1999 he acquired Nafta Moskva, a former Soviet oil trading company, which became the base for his investments.
During the 2000s he built positions in some of Russia's largest listed companies, including stakes in Gazprom and Sberbank, and in property. These positions grew in value during the long rise of Russian markets, but many were financed with loans. When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, the share prices collapsed and he suffered heavy losses.
He then concentrated on gold. Kerimov's group gained control of Polyus Gold, the largest gold producer in Russia, and over the following years he consolidated his stake. Polyus owns some of the world's largest gold deposits, including Olimpiada and Sukhoi Log in Siberia. Gold mining proved more stable than his earlier leveraged trades, and Polyus became the core of the family's wealth. In 2022, after Western sanctions, the family stake in Polyus was transferred to a charitable foundation that bears his name.
Polyus and other investments
Over the years Kerimov's investments have included:
- Polyus: the gold mining company that is the main source of his family's wealth
- Uralkali: in 2011 he led a group that bought a large stake in the potash producer, which he sold in 2013 after a dispute between Uralkali and its Belarusian partner
- Nafta Moskva: the investment company that held many of his earlier positions
- Anzhi Makhachkala: the football club from Dagestan that he owned between 2011 and 2016, when it signed several international star players before cutting back
Kerimov has rarely held executive roles in the companies he invested in, preferring to act as an owner and to leave operations to managers. His holdings have often been arranged through trusts and companies registered outside Russia.
In 2018 the United States placed him under sanctions as part of measures against Russian business figures close to the government. The European Union, the United Kingdom and other countries added him to their sanctions lists after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and some of his foreign assets were frozen.
From Derbent to the Federation Council
Suleiman Abusaidovich Kerimov was born in 1966 in Derbent, an ancient city in Dagestan in the Russian North Caucasus. He is ethnically Lezgin. He studied economics at Dagestan State University and then worked as an economist at Eltav, an electrical components factory in Makhachkala.
In the early 1990s he moved into banking and then to Moscow, where he built connections in finance and politics. In 1999 he was elected to the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. In 2008 he became a member of the Federation Council, the upper house, representing Dagestan, a role he has held for many years.
In 2006 he was badly burned when the Ferrari he was driving crashed on a coastal road near Nice in France. He spent a long period recovering.
In 2017 he was detained in France in connection with an investigation into tax evasion related to villas on the Riviera. He was released and later left the country. He has denied wrongdoing in the cases brought against him.
Foundation work in Dagestan
Kerimov's main charitable vehicle is the Suleiman Kerimov Foundation, set up to support projects in Dagestan and across Russia. It funds education, sport, health care and help for families in need, and it pays for pilgrimages to Mecca for Muslims from Dagestan and other regions.
The foundation has supported the building and restoration of mosques, including the large Moscow Cathedral Mosque, which was rebuilt and reopened in 2015. It has also funded scholarships for students from Dagestan and programs for orphans and people with disabilities.
Kerimov's investment in Anzhi Makhachkala was partly presented as a way to raise the profile of Dagestan and to give young people in the region a sports team to follow, although the club's spending was cut sharply after a few years.
Kerimov rarely speaks in public or gives interviews. His public role is mostly as a senator and as a sponsor of projects in his home region, where he is a well known figure.