Sneakers were pleasantly springy on the paths of Sokolniki Park, it was a clear August morning. The phone call interrupted the workout. Banker Roman Avdeev interrupted his run and picked up the phone. "Did you see that?" - asked his friend. It was about a letter from Alfa Capital's sales manager, Sergei Gavrilov, excerpts from which were published by Vedomosti. In the letter, Gavrilov warned clients about problems in several large banks, urged them not to wait for their reorganization and transfer assets to more reliable banks. The list included Otkritie, Binbank, Promsvyazbank and Moscow credit bank Avdeev.

Soon the banker was talking to the co-owner of Alfa Group, Peter Aven - he called to personally apologize for what had happened. And then Gavrilov’s prophecies began to come true: his letter was published in mid-August 2017, two weeks later the Central Bank sent Otkritie for reorganization, followed by Binbank and Promsvyazbank. MKB is the only one from the "Moscow banking ring" (as the banks began to be called from Gavrilov's letter) that remained afloat. How did Avdeev manage to save the bank and why did the financier, who preferred to do business alone, sell his shares in the main assets?

The Fellowship of the Ring

A ruined city, people screaming with grief, bodies pulled out from under the rubble of buildings - this is how the Armenian Spitak saw after the earthquake in December 1988, student volunteers from the Moscow Energy Institute. Among them was a freshman Roman Avdeev. For two weeks he and his comrades lived in tents: during the day he helped to clear the rubble, at night he ate stew and warmed himself with alcohol. Before leaving, the volunteers were threatened with expulsion, but upon their return, all tests were automatically set.

Avdeev did not manage to finish his studies at MPEI - he was expelled when he, carried away by commerce, abandoned his studies. Avdeev began by trading decoders in the markets, with high margins, the initial accumulation of capital proceeded rapidly. In 1994, Avdeev turned up the Moscow Credit Bank (MKB) and bought it for 2 billion non-denominated rubles (about $500,000). Soon the bank turned into one of the largest players in the market of cash collection services in Moscow and the Moscow region. By the early 2000s, cash collection brought MKB more than 30% of commission income, and the clientele was appropriate: Avdeev relied on working with large retail chains and small private entrepreneurs, to whom he issued short loans secured by proceeds.

Everything changed in the 2008 crisis. Avdeev sold his land in the Moscow region, contributed 6 billion rubles to the capital of the MKB, doubling it, and began to generously lend large companies, the limits for which were reduced by other banks. Mechel, OGK-6, Miratorg, Severstal appeared among the clients of MKB. In 2009-2010, the bank managed to almost triple its assets, up to 165.5 billion rubles.

Through the Rossium investment holding, Avdeev also developed other projects, such as development. MKB began lending to housing developers and selling apartments through the Domus-Finance real estate agency. Then Avdeev founded the company "Ingrad", it began to buy up land and by 2015 became one of the largest developers in the Moscow region with a portfolio of projects of more than 1.8 million square meters. m.

Investments in NPF Soglasie, control over which Avdeev acquired in 2013, turned out to be successful. Then the fund's assets did not exceed 5 billion rubles. In 2014-2015, Soglasiya managed to attract almost 500,000 new clients; by the end of 2015, it managed 22 billion rubles of pension savings.

The largest private pension group at that time was formed around Otkritie Bank, its NPF Electric Power Industry and Lukoil-Garant managed 287 billion rubles (14.3% of the entire market). An impressive collection of NPFs, later merged into FG "Future", was also collected by Boris Mints, one of the partners of Vadim Belyaev, the main shareholder of Otkritie, as well as the Safmar group of Mikhail Gutseriev. NPFs were bought, among other things, in order to finance the projects of their owners. The Central Bank tried to moderate their appetites, in particular, set limits on the share of affiliated companies and individual instruments in fund portfolios. It was these restrictions that laid the foundation for the notorious “Moscow banking ring”. “A group of enthusiasts came up with an elegant and formally legal scheme, it involved funds, banks and issuers valuable papers, which could be included in the highest quotation lists. The principle was simple: your fund gives money for our projects, ours - for yours, ”says one of the financiers.

Did Avdeev's structures participate in these schemes? Avdeev himself calls any arguments about the "banking ring" conspiracy theories. But in 2015, the O1 Group (which combines the pension and development businesses of Boris Mints) owed 24 billion rubles to the MCB, and its pension funds kept 34 billion rubles on accounts and deposits in Avdeev's bank.

In the summer of the same year, Avdeev discussed with the Mintz and Safmar funds the possibility of participating in the MKB IPO. The deal did not take place - allegedly on the recommendation of the Central Bank, which did not like that these same pension groups took part in the additional capitalization of Promsvyazbank, buying out 10% for 6.9 billion rubles each. Already after the placement, during which the MKB raised 13.2 billion rubles, the funds of Mints, Gutseriev, as well as NPF RGS, acquired approximately 3.5% of the MKB in the secondary market each. But one of the largest investors in the IPO was the Region group, which serves Rosneft. At the end of 2015, she owned 9.5% of MKB.

Rich "Region"

“There will be no more of my foot either in the stadium or in your box!” - the billionaire Alexander Mamut could not restrain himself. In the summer of 2003, he came to the owner of Luzhniki Vladimir Alyoshin to buy the Torpedo football club from him, but the deal fell through, although Mamut offered $ 30 million for the team, and with him the purchase was ready to be financed by billionaires Roman Abramovich and Suleiman Kerimov. The partners wanted to turn Torpedo into a European level club.

The failure dealt a severe blow to Mamut's self-esteem. He was a passionate fan of Torpedo and could not look indifferently at the absurd situation: two clubs with the same name were playing in Moscow at the same time. Historically, the owner of the "Torpedo" was the plant. Likhachev (ZIL), he also owned the home stadium for the team. Edward Streltsov. In 1997, ZIL was unable to maintain the Torpedo and sold it to Aleshin. The fans did not forgive the club for moving to Luzhniki and convinced the ZIL leadership to create a clone team Torpedo-ZIL. Mamut tried to buy her too, but failed again: "Torpedo-ZIL" went to the co-owner " Norilsk Nickel"To Mikhail Prokhorov, during the division of assets with Vladimir Potanin, Norilsk Nickel departed, and in 2010 the team was disbanded. Stadium them. Eduard Streltsov, along with the development company OPIN, went to Prokhorov.

In 2016, Roman Avdeev bought out OPIN. He arrived at the stadium and, according to him, was so imbued with the aura of the place that he decided to buy Torpedo (at that time the club again belonged to ZIL) and return the team to his native stadium. Although Avdeev himself is far from football. As a child, he was a fan of CSKA - and then in defiance of his father, a Spartak fan. “Now, by the will of fate, I have become a Torpedo fan. At the end of the next season, we should reach the National League,” says the banker. But he has plans related to the development project of the territory around the stadium named after Prokhorov, inherited from Prokhorov. Streltsov housing area of ​​266,000 square meters. m. The head of the consulting company "TOP Idea" Oleg Stupenkov believes that this is one of the most promising projects in the portfolio of "Ingrad" (Avdeev combined it with OPIN).

Rossium's partner in Ingrad is the Region group, in the summer of 2017 it bought out 18.2% of the company for 7.5 billion rubles. Avdeev says that "Region" became a client of MKB back in 2006. Subsequently, Region, with the assistance of Rosneft, experienced a rapid transformation from a second-tier player to one of the largest asset managers in Russia. In 2011, the controlling owners of the "Region" became its top managers, headed by President Sergei Sudarikov. Together with them, Sergey Korol, who led the RN-Trust company, which managed the funds of Neftegarant, the pension fund of Rosneft, became a shareholder of Region. The king was also a good friend of Pyotr Lazarev, who had been in charge of the financial block of Rosneft since the early 2000s.

In the early 2000s, Lazarev, through a chain of companies, was one of the beneficiaries of RN-Trust, subsequently the King became the main owner of this company. Having redeemed a share in Region, he contributed RN-Trust to its capital. In addition, Rosneft sold the Portfolio Investments company with assets worth 18 billion rubles to the Region group. In 2011, the assets of the "Region" quadrupled, up to 105 billion rubles. Today "Region" is the fifth group in Russia in terms of assets under management (336.3 billion rubles). "Neftegarant" (divided into two structures: one manages 7.3 billion rubles of pension savings, the second - 56.5 billion rubles of corporate pensions) continues to be one of its clients along with NPF Surgutneftegaz, Transneft and Sberbank. Relations between Region and the oil company are not limited to managing the money of future pensioners of Rosneft: they act as co-owners in a number of projects, for example, Sibintek, an IT contractor of Rosneft.

In addition to the "Region", the shares of the ICB at the IPO were bought out by another management company "Regionfinansresurs", owned by the former employee of the "Region" Natalya Bogdanova, she became the owner of 8.7% of the bank. A few months after the IPO, Rosneft also provided financing to the MKB, placing several short-term deposits with the bank for 300 billion rubles, and then issuing a subordinated loan for $300 million until 2021. An acquaintance of Avdeev says that the bank’s client relations with Rosneft began even earlier - in 2013, the structures oil company placed more than $500 million in the MKB. The bank's financial statements for 2013 indeed reflect a significant (from 1.2 billion to 23.5 billion rubles) growth in balances on accounts and deposits of clients from the chemical and oil industries. According to a Forbes source, during the 2014 crisis, the bank had problems with the return of this money, but Rosneft continued to finance it. Why did the oil company need Avdeev's bank?

Banks for Rosneft

“The main currency speculator of Russia has been found,” politician Boris Nemtsov said on his Facebook on December 13, 2014, at the height of the currency panic, when the dollar exchange rate reached 60 rubles for the first time in history. The oppositionist assured that Rosneft took a loan of 625 billion rubles from the Central Bank secured by its bonds, and then began to buy up foreign currency and brought down the ruble.

At the end of 2014, Rosneft found itself in a difficult position. The company's debt, 90% denominated in foreign currency, exceeded 2.5 trillion rubles, the deadline for the next payment on a loan to buy TNK-BP was approaching, but US sanctions cut the company off from foreign financing. Could not help Rosneft and its subsidiary All-Russian Bank for Regional Development (RRDB), which was also under sanctions. On December 11, the company placed bonds for 625 billion rubles, and a week later it paid $7 billion to foreign creditors. But Nemtsov was wrong, Otkritie bank provided the Rosneft currency, having received it from the Central Bank on the security of Rosneft bonds.

Later in an interview Financial Times Andrey Kostin, head of VTB, admitted that the Otkritie group was chosen for this deal because it did not fall under sanctions. Thanks to deals with Rosneft, Otkritie almost doubled its assets to 2.7 trillion rubles, becoming the largest private bank in Russia. The triumph lasted until July 2017, when the ACRA rating agency assigned the bank an unexpectedly low rating of BBB-, which did not allow placing funds in it. budget organizations and pension savings. For a month, 621 billion rubles leaked from Otkritie, in August the bank went for reorganization.

Avdeev's bank, meanwhile, also increased its assets. According to Moody’s Junior Vice President Petr Paklin, the amount of reverse repurchase transactions (purchase of securities with an obligation to resell) is more than 40% of MKB assets (total 1.88 trillion rubles under IFRS) and is comparable in size to the loan portfolio. Paklin explains the growth of the reverse repo at MKB by the fact that the bank lends to several investment companies secured by bonds.

Avdeev does not disclose economic essence these transactions. Forbes sources familiar with the MKB business claim that we are talking on financing deals for Rosneft. Two Forbes interlocutors on financial market they say that immediately after the annexation of Crimea and the imposition of sanctions, Rosneft began looking for a bank through which it would be possible to attract foreign currency financing. At first, this function was performed by the Otkritie bank, but other options were also considered. The main condition was that the bank was not affiliated with the oil company, otherwise it could fall under sanctions. In the spring of 2017, Region, which represented the interests of Rosneft, considered the possibility of buying Svyaz-Bank and Globex from VEB (Region reported that this was not the case), but this deal was allegedly not agreed upon in the presidential administration.

As a result, the choice fell on the MKB. Since the beginning of 2015, Rosneft has placed two dozen bond issues for 2.2 trillion rubles - some of them, according to Forbes sources, settled on the balance sheet of the MKB, and the bank's assets in 2015 doubled to 1.2 trillion rubles.

In October 2017, Rosneft secured cooperation with MKB: its structures RN-Nyaganneftegaz and Samotlorneftegaz placed subordinated deposits in the bank for 22 billion rubles for 49 years. At the same time, Avdeev held the bank's SPO for 14.4 billion rubles. After him, "Rossium" retained 56.7% of the MKB, and the shares of the "Region" and "Regionfinansresursa" groups amounted to 8.7% and 10%, respectively.

Flight of the Owl

In 2008, Avdeev began to develop in Velsk, located two kilometers south of the colony, where one of the Yukos shareholders Platon Lebedev was sitting, the Sever Les group, which unites several woodworking enterprises. Avdeev appointed his son Anton as the deputy general director of the group. Avdeev Jr. had to work in difficult conditions. “800 km to Moscow, 500 km to Arkhangelsk,” a banker's acquaintance describes Velsk. “There is only water at the plant, and the owner of one of the sawmills was once attacked by a bear.” Avdeev himself is accustomed to more difficult conditions: he is fond of ski touring, conquered Wilson's Peak in Antarctica, and now dreams of Mount Matterhorn.

Roman Avdeev has 23 children, 19 of them are adopted. Adopting children Avdeev began after, having provided support to several orphanages, he realized that the system was not working efficiently enough. Now only one son, Kirill, works in the structures of Rossium, since Avdeev is against nepotism in business. He is not going to leave a large inheritance to his children, he himself is content with little: his small office - five by six steps - at the headquarters of the MKB on Sretenka resembles the office of a middle manager.

AT recent times Avdeev is ready to make room in business. In addition to the stake in Ingrad, the Region group bought the Agronova-L agricultural holding from him, as well as 10% in the Soglasie NPF, whose funds it manages. Avdeev also has another partner - the young financier Nikolai Katorzhnov. In 2009, he began working in the Otkritie group, and already in 2013, a year before his thirtieth birthday, he headed the group's London subsidiary, broker Otkritie Capital International Limited (OCIL), and at the same time oversaw the investment block at Otkritie Bank. Katorzhnov specialized in repo transactions, his team participated in the financing of Rosneft. OCIL earned an average of $ 20 million in net profit per year, at the beginning of 2015 Katorzhnov moved away from work at Otkritie and took up other projects. For example, he invested in CloudDC, which was building a data center in the Moscow region. Thanks to good relations with the leadership of Region (including Sudarikov), Katorzhnov was able to sell CloudDC to Sibinteka in 2017.

Sudarikov advised him to turn to Avdeev in order to fulfill his long-standing desire - to buy out OCIL from the shareholders of the sinking Otkritie. Avdeev agreed, he, according to his version, was looking for opportunities to develop the investment business within Rossium. The transaction was carried out based on the value of OCIL's net assets, which is about $330 million. By that time, a temporary administration had already been operating in Otkritie, but the Central Bank had no claims against buyers.

Avdeev offered Katorzhnov to become a partner in Rossium, and he bought out part of the additional issue of the holding for 26 billion rubles, receiving about 10% in it. Katorzhnov says that he bought Rossium shares for 10 billion rubles (Avdeev bought the rest). Now Katorzhnov not only manages OCIL (which was renamed Sova Capital), but also received a mandate from Avdeev to develop financial business in the group as a whole. Katorzhnov plans to turn Sova Capital into a full-fledged prime broker and estimates the possible effect of the merger with MKB at $100 million in additional margin.

The IBC is actively hiring a new team. back side process - top managers who have worked with Avdeev since the 2000s are leaving the bank. “The old team does not have confidence in its future, some of the managers are planning to buy out the collection business and set off on a free voyage,” says Avdeev's friend. He and several people close to MKB told Forbes that management in the bank had actually passed to people representing the interests of Rosneft and Region. For example, at the end of 2017, Mikhail Polunin became the first deputy chairman, previously he headed the Peresvet bank, which sanitized Rosneft's RRDB.

Avdeev good-naturedly dismisses any talk about the oil company, calling it just one of the bank's clients, and Polunin's arrival at the bank urges not to be considered in isolation from other major appointments: people from other banks, Gazprombank and Sberbank, also joined the board of the MKB. However, Avdeev's acquaintances say that he himself has moved away from operational management bank.

The founder of the MKB says that he does not intend to leave the business, and Forbes in the "Region" reported that there are no plans to further buy out shares in the assets of Rossium. “I have not heard that Roman Ivanovich wants to go out of business at all,” says Katorzhnov. - Rossium has now changed its strategy and is actively working to reduce financial leverage. Among other things, this translates into a willingness to give third-party partners the opportunity to invest in some of their projects.”

“What difference does it make who owns the shares of MKB and Rossium? In any case, all business decisions are agreed with the largest contributor, ”says the Forbes interlocutor, who worked in the financial structures of Rosneft. According to him, the oil company has made this principle an absolute: not a single step can be taken without the consent of Rosneft. It seems that the same will be the case in the ICD.

- With the participation of Yulia Titova

Roman Avdeev, the main owner of Moscow Credit Bank, does not associate his successes with business. He is philosophical about many things, and considers the priority in his life family values and movement. But it was success in business that allowed the banker not only to enter the hundred of the richest entrepreneurs in Russia, but also to expand his empire, create several charitable foundations, help orphans and, most importantly, become the largest billionaire in the world.

Dossier:

  • FULL NAME: Roman Ivanovich Avdeev.
  • Date of Birth: July 17, 1967
  • Education:

    Moscow International University of Business and Information Technologies;

    Lipetsk State Technical University.

  • start date entrepreneurial activity/ age: 1989 / 22 years old.
  • Type of activity at the start: trade in equipment and computers.
  • Current activity:

    The president management company"MKB Capital";

    Chairman of the Board of Directors of OOO Concern ROSSIUM;

    Chairman of the Board of Directors of PJSC INGRAD;

    member of the Board of Directors of NPF Soglasie JSC, NPF Soglasie-OPS JSC, SKS Bank (LLC);

    Member of the Supervisory Board of PJSC CREDIT BANK OF MOSCOW.

  • Link to social pages networks:

Roman Avdeev is multifaceted and interesting person. Reading his publications - Roman Ivanovich writes columns for Forbes, maintains a personal blog on LiveJournal, has pages in social networks - one is amazed at the depth of thought and philosophical outlook on many things, including charity, business success, life principles. A single thread that connects all statements is the argument about the inalienability of continuous changes from the life of each person.

Business for Roman Avdeev is just a means to achieve goals, and success is a dynamic.

“The goal of any business is to create systems that generate profit. But the business itself is a tool, not a goal. And from this point of view, what is important in business is not so much the profit itself and the technology for obtaining it, but the possibility of creativity ... ”, - R. Avdeev.
Source: personal site.

And this applies to any sphere of his activity and hobbies. Roman was able to assess the emerging opportunities and future prospects back in the late 80s, at a time when many were afraid of any changes, did not know which way to move.

His first business, related to the sale of radio components, quickly gained momentum, and the aspiring entrepreneur was already able to see the potential of banking.

The idea was embodied in the acquisition of Moscow Credit Bank in 1994. Although, in fact, it was just an office and a package of documents. From this moment begins the success story of both Roman Avdeev himself and his offspring - MKB Bank.

Fig.1. A successful businessman and philanthropist Avdeev.
Source: lenta.ru

Avdeev's interests expanded far beyond banking. In almost 30 years of entrepreneurial activity, he has been engaged in agriculture, commercial real estate, development, pharmaceuticals, retail, extraction of natural resources. But in most cases successful business was sold, and the proceeds were used to capitalize the same MKB bank.

“Business is just a business that will be sold sooner or later,” R. Avdeev.

The most successful projects were consolidated under the wing of the Rossium concern, which was established by Avdeev in 2006 and remains today the main investment division of the businessman.

The empire of Roman Ivanovich expanded systematically, so the information about the entry of the main owner of the MKB bank in 2011 into the Forbes rating surprised few people.

But the businessman himself reacted philosophically to the change in status.

“Perhaps someone will think that I am cunning, but I am absolutely not touched by the fact that my name appeared in the famous Forbes list. Neither before nor after this circumstance, nothing in my life and business has changed. It is not surprising that none of the people who know me well thought to congratulate me on this event. It is much more valuable for me that Forbes readers were more interested not in the issues of my business, but in more eternal family values, ”Roman Avdeev in an interview for Forbes magazine.

Indeed, family values ​​for Roman are not just grandiloquent words. After all, 23 children are brought up in his family, 19 of which are adopted.

How does a successful businessman manage to keep abreast of a difficult business, take care of his rather big family and help orphans, keep several blogs and devote time to his sports hobbies? Perhaps we can find the answers in short biography and statements of Roman Avdeev.

On the way to big business

The small homeland of Roman Avdeev is the city of Odintsovo in the Moscow region. He was born here in July 1967, and lives here today with his big family.

Rice. 2. The Avdeev family.
Source: site romanavdeev.ru

The childhood of the hero was not much different from the standard childhood of most Soviet schoolchildren. The Avdeev family lived modestly, if not poorly. According to Roman himself, he had to go to school in a sweatshirt - work clothes that were given to parents at work.

By the way, the boy did not have much interest in studying. Awareness of the importance of the process came only in high school.

Fig.3. Roman Avdeev in childhood.
Source: site romanavdeev.ru

Like many teenagers of that time, he was seriously interested in radio electronics. But this passion did not affect the choice of the university. In 1984, the guy enters the Moscow Power Engineering Institute.

But he managed to unlearn only 2 years, since he was drafted into the ranks of the Soviet Army. He served in the city of Kostroma in the construction battalion.

Rice. 4. Student and soldier Roman Avdeev, 1984-1986
Source: site romanavdeev.ru

After the service, his life did not change much, except that cares for the family were added and little son. Student Avdeev had to look for ways to feed his young family. But part-time jobs at the department of the institute and night work as a watchman and cleaner in one of the vocational schools made it possible to earn crumbs, which were not enough even for the most necessary.

Everything changed dramatically in 1989.

“During the years of perestroika and the collapse of the USSR, the rules of life completely changed. People had the opportunity to start their own business, but only a few dared to do so. Then it was necessary to take a risk, to take responsibility, but the majority was not ready for this,” R. Avdeev.

He took the risk and never regretted it. Avdeev's first business, which he organized in 1989, was associated with the sale of radio components, as well as decoders for televisions.

Rice. 5. Aspiring entrepreneur in '89.
Source: site romanavdeev.ru

At first, they traded in the markets of Moscow, later they entered the markets of other cities, including Leningrad, they began to transport computers from abroad, and entered into a supply agreement with the Ukrainian company Electronmash. The specifics of the work and the emergence of national currencies forced Avdeev to engage in foreign exchange transactions. It was at this time that he realizes that he receives more profit from the conversion of rubles than from trading operations.

So the idea came up to try their hand at banking.

“It was around this time that I came up with the idea that a bank could be a business in its own right. By the way, the banking business still seems interesting and promising to me,” R. Avdeev.

The path from a business on paper to the largest financial institution

Avdeev found "his bank" through an ad. In fact, in 1994 he bought not a ready-made business, but only a package of documents and loud name- "Moscow credit bank". As a load, he got an office and a staff of 14 employees.

Rice. 6. Aspiring banker in 1994.
Source: site romanavdeev.ru

At the beginning of his journey, he hardly planned to create a bank that would take 9th place in terms of assets in 2018, losing ground only, and would be recognized as a backbone financial institution, the largest private regional commercial bank.

Then Avdeev continued to experiment, to try his hand in other directions:

“The main thing in business is the sense of the moment and the speed of decision-making”, - R. Avdeev.

He sold his non-core business without regret, and used the proceeds from the sale of assets to capitalize his bank. But the decision to direct all funds and forces to the development of the ICD Roman Ivanovich takes only in 2008.

It was at this time that he became the Chairman of the Board of the IBC.

“I believe that a shareholder should not manage a bank. But it was during this period that I had to take full responsibility, strengthen the team, raise the corporate spirit, ”- R. Avdeev.

It took him 10 months to bring the business to new round development. Thanks to a well-thought-out strategy, the bank survived the crisis painlessly and even improved its position.

Roman Ivanovich himself left the leadership position and "took an observant position."

Other business assets of Avdeev

Avdeev began to consolidate his assets in 2006 by founding the Rossium Concern.

In the family of Roman Avdeev, 23 children are growing up, who are now from 7 to 17 years old, six of their own children, 17 are adopted. However, Roman Avdeev never separates his children. He accepts them, first of all, in his heart, and only then - in the family. He has the financial ability to provide good conditions for children, but his attitude directly to education deserves sincere respect.

How it all began


Roman Avdeev was born in Odintsovo, long time lived with his family in a communal apartment. There were four of them in one room: grandmother, father and mother and Roman. In addition, relatives constantly came to them, friends came and at the same time everything was somehow fun, in a kind way. Although parents, for sure, had a very difficult time. But they knew how to create such an atmosphere in the house that everyone was comfortable, albeit in one small room.

Later, the family received another room, but relations always remained warm. Parents always tried to understand their son, even when he slammed the door as a teenager, and once he left home altogether, accusing his father and mother of not loving him. Probably, it was then, in childhood, that his own understanding of what a family should be was born.


Roman Avdeev even today has great respect for the opinion of Galina Borisovna and Ivan Isaakovich, who now live in a neighboring village and often come to his house on foot and without warning.

After school, Roman Ivanovich entered the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, served in the army, then went into business, he had his own cooperative for the production of decoders. Later acquired the Moscow Credit Bank.


Then he had already grown up two sons, who were born in his first marriage. And in 2002, he, already with his second wife, adopted twins Katya and Timur. Unfortunately, even then the businessman's wife knew that she had an oncological disease, but she hoped to defeat him. And even at that difficult time, she fully supported her husband's desire to accept children into the family.

Adopt a child


The desire to engage in adoption arose from Roman Avdeev far from spontaneously. For a long time he was involved in helping orphanages and came to the conclusion that it simply makes no sense.

The current wife of Roman Avdeev, Elena, does not just support her husband. She married him when the banker already had 12 children and he knew for sure: this was far from the limit.


He was often asked questions about why he should take on such a burden. Business requires attention, time and effort. The upbringing of children should not be left to chance. But Roman Avdeev knew exactly what he was doing and why. And he just can't help it. Raising children is the most important thing in his life.


He never chooses a child, he only tries to take the baby, who from the very early age will live with a family. Sometimes he laughs: from time to time, children talk sadly about their difficult childhood, and they got into the Avdeev family at an age when they certainly did not consciously perceive the surrounding reality, that is, they were still babies.

simple happiness


On the site of Roman Avdeev there are as many as three houses. This is not a luxury, but a necessity, because each child should have his own personal space, his own room. The most amazing thing is that the whole family lives in a very special regime. There are no general ups and downs. The head of the family usually wakes up and leaves for work before everyone else, trying not to wake the household.

Children wake up all in their own mode. Schoolchildren study in three different schools, the most ordinary ones, where they are able to give a normal education. The kindergartens that the children attended were also the most ordinary, municipal ones. This was the principled position of Roman and his wife: no elite private establishments.


Roman Avdeev admits: he adopted the younger three children seven years ago. Until then it stopped. He knows that he could adopt many more babies, but then he himself would hardly have the strength to participate in everyone's life. Roman Avdeev believes that it is absolutely impossible to pay off children with money, gifts, fashionable gadgets and trips to the Maldives. It is important for a child to feel the love of parents, their attention and care. And in this sense, small and big family are exactly the same.

Even at the time when Roman Ivanovich was helping orphanages, he noticed: growing up, girls and boys turn out to be completely unadapted to life. They have no idea what personal property is, they don't know how to cook and do laundry.


Therefore, everything is different in his house. Yes, there is a cook, but on his days off the girls are happy to cook porridge and pasta, dumplings and sausages, they even make sweets that dad simply cannot refuse.

In the family, in addition to the cook, there are seven people who help take the children to school, tell them how to write an essay or solve an equation. However, Roman Ivanovich tries to do mathematics with children himself. All children in without fail study English from a very young age. Growing up, children get the opportunity to study abroad, but only during the holidays.


Roman Avdeev, despite all his busyness, always finds time for children. He does not try to put pressure on children, but he makes it clear that he makes the main decisions in the family only because he is older and more experienced. And also on the rights of what financially provides everyone. At the same time, the message is: become independent and make decisions.

He tries to educate children by his own example and never forgets that children need his love. Material things, of course, are very important, but much more important are cozy family evenings, a wooden stool made together with the sons, a joint trip to the country, gatherings by the fire, playing sports.


Roman Ivanovich Avdeev does not hide the fact that he will not leave a fortune to his children. It will help everyone get an education, get a job, buy a home and choose their own path. One thing is absolutely clear: Avdeev's children certainly will not become life-burners.

Today it is generally accepted that huge families with 10 or more children are a relic of the past. By the way, in our country there are not so few of them. Of course, a family with three children is now considered a large family, by old standards this is not much, but for most modern parents is already a feat. In St. Petersburg, for example, according to statistics, only one percent of such brave men, but in Ingushetia - more than half.

“It is very important that a person become a person”
R. Avdeev

Roman Ivanovich Avdeev is a successful businessman, philosopher, member of the Supervisory Board of the Moscow Credit Bank and the father of twenty-three children. Roman Avdeev is on the 68th line of the rating of the Russian edition of Forbes "200 richest businessmen of Russia - 2014" with a fortune of 1.4 billion dollars.

The future billionaire was born in 1967 in small town Odintsovo, where he spent his entire childhood. In 1984, Roman Avdeev was enrolled in the ranks of students of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, and two years later he was drafted into the army. After the army, the famous businessman continued his studies, which he combined with a part-time job.

On the way to building a business

The future billionaire opened his own business in 1989. Banking was not Roman Avdeev's first choice in business. The businessman founded an enterprise that distributed decoders and imported computers to Russia. Subsequently, interaction was established with the Ukrainian electronics manufacturer, the Electronmash plant. Soon, however, Avdeev noticed that he was earning more money on currency transactions than in trading activities and decided to try his hand at banking. In 1994, the entrepreneur took a business course at the Moscow international university business and information technology. In the same year, Avdeev bought the Moscow Credit Bank. As the entrepreneur himself recalls on his website, at that time the bank was a package of documents and fourteen people in the state. All processes were set up from scratch and now Moscow Credit Bank is one of the largest and most stable credit organizations in the country.

In the mid-90s, a young businessman turned his attention to the agro-industrial business: he bought shares in Lebedyansky Sugar Plant OJSC and the surrounding areas. In 1996, Avdeev graduated from the Lipetsk State Technical University. By 2006, the Chernozemye agricultural holding was organized, which produced about 3% of Russian sugar. However, at that time, Avdeev did not see the prospects for the growth of this business and sold it. The proceeds were used to increase the capital of MKB.

In 2005, Avdeev becomes CEO group of companies "Rossium". Roman Avdeev is a co-owner of a factory in the city of Kupavna. He invested about $20 million in this venture.

In 2008, Avdeev decided to build a business in the forestry and woodworking industries. However, this business entrepreneur also decided to sell and invest in the development of MKB.

In 2010, the entrepreneur organized the Domus Finance real estate agency.

A year ago, through Gardenhills, Avdeev acquired a controlling stake in Veropharm, a large Russian company engaged in the production of medicines. On December 12, 2014 the American company Abbott redeemed a controlling stake. Abbot paid about $305 million for the venture.

Interests and hobbies of Roman Avdeev

Roman Ivanovich is a very versatile person. Billionaire prefers outdoor activities. A businessman considers sports as a tool for character education. Roman Avdeev's hobbies include yoga, rowing, cycling, horseback riding. skiing. In 2009, the billionaire conquered Wilson's Peak. Back in the late 90s, Roman Avdeev became interested in philosophy. The entrepreneur believes that philosophy provides logical and research material, and business can bring this material to life.

Despite the fact that a successful entrepreneur devotes a lot of time to work, he considers his family to be his main interest in life. In addition to his four children, Roman Ivanovich has nineteen more adopted children. Avdeev adopted the first two babies in 2002. According to the businessman, the decision to adopt children came to him after realizing that assistance to orphanages was ineffective. It is important for a child to feel that he has a family. In an interview with 7ya.ru, the banker told in accordance with what principles his family lives. When adopting, Roman Ivanovich does not choose children. However, he believes that it is necessary to adopt before the age of 1 year in order to invest in the child as much as possible even in early childhood. It is very important to devote time to the child, and not pay him off with expensive toys. All the children of a businessman learn, in addition to Russian, English. Roman Ivanovich considers it important to instill respect for people in children. In March 2014, the businessman opened the Arithmetic of Kindness charity foundation.

Journal Forbes billionaire spoke about his attitude to business and success.

In business, Roman Avdeev adheres to the following principles:

A business is just a business that will be sold sooner or later.

Business is a tool, not a goal. This is an opportunity to do something.

For long-term success, luck is not enough, you need to work hard.

In business, it is very important to make decisions quickly.

A person should be engaged in a business in which he is a professional.

In his interview for Euromoney, the billionaire expressed the opinion that the main problem Russian business is the lack of business thinking. First of all, the education system is to blame. Education was on good level during Soviet Union but it was attuned to an industrial society. Now it needs to be reformed to fit the modern business environment. Education should not only convey knowledge, but also show students the sources of knowledge and how to apply them.

Regarding the issue of Western sanctions against the Russian Federation, which is topical for Russians, in the same Euromoney, Avdeev gave his vision of the situation. The banker believes that at some point the parties will be able to sit down together and discuss a solution to the issue. The current situation is unfavorable for both sides, and the main problem is the lack of communication between the two sides. Roman Avdeev is sure that sanctions against state-controlled banks are automatically sanctions against the entire banking sector country. The closure of the international bond market for Sberbank and VTB can in no way be to the benefit of private banks, in particular MKB. At the same time, the IBC has a fairly diversified funding base. If access to one source of funding is limited, this is noticeable to the bank, but should not cause serious problems. The businessman believes that Russian clients will not leave Western banks that provide loans to support businesses under the influence of political events. Avdeev considers it possible to create a national payment system, but at the same time he proposes to answer the questions, what are the goals of creation, how effective will it be and whether it will allow the best place in the global world system.