Andrey Molchanov: biography, career, political activity

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Molchanov Andrey Yurievich is a Russian businessman, chairman and former president of LSR Group. He was appointed assistant to the Minister of He alth and Social Development of the Russian Federation, but later left the post. According to Forbes in 2013, his fortune was $1.65 billion.

Short biography

Andrey Molchanov was born in Leningrad in 1971. After school, he entered St. Petersburg State University, the Faculty of Economics, from which he graduated in 1993. Then he studied at the Academy of Civil Service and five years later became a specialist in the field of state and municipal government.

In 1993, he founded OJSC LSR Group, an industrial construction company, which he led until 2007, when he became an assistant to the minister. In 2008 he was elected a member of the Federation Council from the Leningrad Region. At the moment, Andrey Molchanov, his wife and two children live in Moscow.

Has many awards and diplomas. Among them are the medal "For Services to the Fatherland" II degree, certificates from the Federation Council of the Leningrad Region and the medal "In memory of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.”

Projects in St. Petersburg

Molchanov Andrey Yurievich has a huge influence on the construction business in St. Petersburg. He has quite influential friends who help him achieve his goals.

One example of a controversial project was a 2002 government decree that allowed a large forest area near St. Petersburg to be converted to non-forest land. Almost 193 hectares of forest were transferred to expand the granite quarry and further develop the Kuznechnoye deposit, as well as several other quarries.

The development was necessary for the construction needs in St. Petersburg, but against the backdrop of a social and environmental catastrophe, many considered it unjustified. They began to believe that Andrei Molchanov (the contacts of LSR Group are available on the official website, a single number: 8-800-770-75-77) contacted the right people and launched a project that largely took into account the interests of his company.

Good friends

Andrey Molchanov helped Sergei Mironov, speaker of the Federation Council, strengthen his position in the AP. After the 90s, they worked in the same company and became good friends. Molchanov worked with the deputies, helping them make their choice after Yakovlev's resignation. As a result, the businessman and the deputy controlled almost half of the AP and influenced the adoption of important legislative decisions.

In 2007, Molchanov actively financed the election campaign of A Just Russia. In 2007, in many waysthanks to this help, Sergei Kuzmin began to control its activities. Sergei is the former CEO of OAO Granit-Kuznechnoye, a firm that depended on Molchanov's company LSR Group.

The situation in the construction market of St. Petersburg

The biography of Andrey Molchanov is full of ambiguous events. After 2007, the building materials market was tested. Prices were growing rapidly, and given that the cost of housing is half formed by building materials, the crisis overtook the real estate market. The price per square meter has become higher than ever, the Affordable Housing program began to seem unfeasible and unprofitable.

Everyone knew that the building materials market in St. Petersburg is controlled by one company - Andrey Molchanov's LSR Group. The entrepreneur began to capture the market long before the crisis. He was the head of one of the earliest voucher investment funds. These funds were created to help the people of Russia invest vouchers. Andrei Molchanov bought shares of the Stroydetal plant, which produced building materials, at a voucher auction.

Over the years, the company prospered and eventually became a major player in the market, controlling 70% of the production of bricks, 70% of sand and almost half of other building materials. At the same time, LSR Group was building 25% of luxury housing in St. Petersburg. In some areas, it was a monopolist and set the price of housing. The city became dependent on one firm.

"LSR Group" began to lose interest in the city, paying attention to Moscow and the Moscow region. Saint-Petersburg faced the threat of a shortage of building materials. Andrei Molchanov moved to the capital, opened his office there and began transferring money to Moscow.

How successful 2007 was for an entrepreneur can be judged by the Forbes rating. According to him, Molchanov controlled assets worth $660 million.

Political activities

In 2007, Andrey Molchanov decides to leave his career as an entrepreneur and gets a job at the Ministry of He alth as an assistant to Mikhail Zurabov. He was helped in many ways by long-standing ties with deputies, including Mironov.

In 2008, Forbes summed up his entrepreneurial activities, putting him in first place in the ranking of the richest businessmen in St. Petersburg. At that time, his fortune was $4.9 billion. However, a year later, this figure decreased several times and was equal to $0.45 billion.

Renunciation of A Just Russia

In 2010, many predicted the resignation of Governor Valery Serdyukov. Andrei Molchanov wanted to compete for his seat, but he understood that the Social Democrat was not very suitable for this. It was necessary to publicly renounce A Just Russia. Moreover, Andrei Molchanov, whose photo was often flashed in the media, announced not only the termination of funding for the party, but also a possible entry into United Russia.

Molchanov planned everything in such a way that he would get the next promotion in his career in the Leningrad region, for which he had big plans. About them becameknown after a few years.

Profitable projects

In 2012, LSR Group made a loud announcement about the launch of a new project of a multifunctional complex for the Military Medical Academy. The academy moved to the resort town of Sestroretsk, the cost was estimated at $10 billion, many people named even larger sums.

There were a lot of rumors that Lev Vinnik, Deputy General Director of LSR Group, helped get the order. Previously, Lev worked under the administration of St. Petersburg and registered land plots for development. By 2007, he became an adviser to Anatoly Serdyukov, head of the Federal Tax Service and Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. According to many, it was thanks to Vinnik's contacts that he was able to initiate the relocation of the academy to Sestroretsk.

Molchanov Andrei Yurievich, whose biography shows the importance of proper acquaintances, did not forget about politics. In 2012, the United Russia party nominated 3 candidates for the post of governor of the Leningrad region, but the president chose Alexander Drozdenko.

In the same year, Andrei Molchanov and former State Duma deputy Eduard Yanakov bought out Russian-language newspapers in Riga. Local authorities were worried that the Russian-language press in Latvia was under the influence of businessmen, but they could not do anything.

Back in business

In 2013 Andrey Molchanov decides to return to business and leave politics. No wonder, because last year he lost more than $50 million. Andrey returns tohis company LSR Group and chairs the board of directors.

Later, in the same year, an investigation was conducted in St. Petersburg into the supply of 40,000 low-quality reinforced concrete slabs throughout Russia. The amount of damage was estimated at more than a billion rubles, which were transferred to Molchanov's subsidiary LSR-stroy. According to the conclusion, the delivered plates did not comply with GOSTs. The criminal case did not affect the company itself, the charges were brought against the officers who received the materials.

In August 2013, LSR Group bought out Royal Gardens Hotel LLC. This company had the right to reconstruct the besieged substation at the address: Fontanka, 3, and build a hotel on this site.

The project met with active resistance from urban planners. The building has existed since the Great Patriotic War and fed the trams in the besieged city. For the blockade, it became a symbol of victory. However, according to an examination carried out by the Art Deco company, the building was of little value, and the company received permission to install a construction fence.

By 2015, disputes over construction did not subside, the entrepreneur turned to the governor with a request to protect him from city defenders. Andrei Molchanov, whose family is his wife Elizaveta and six children, is worried about the disruption of the project.