Son of ex-FM of Uzbekistan Doniyor Kamilov becomes new beneficial owner of UMMC

As Forbes reports, on March 14, 2022, a message appeared on the website of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company:

The Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (OJSC UMMC) announces changes in the corporate structure. I. K. Makhmudov and A. R. Bokarev ceased to be the controlling beneficiaries of UMMC OJSC, Kuzbassrazrezugol Management Company JSC, Vostochny Port JSC, Rosterminalugol JSC, and also withdrew from the boards of directors of these companies.

A month later, Makhmudov and Bokarev were included in the UK sanctions list.

A few months later, in July 2022,  Andrey Kozitsyn left the post of UMMC CEO. The decision was made "in connection with the possible imposition in the future of personal sanctions by foreign states and is aimed at eliminating the possible indirect application of sanctions against the companies of the UMMC group". At the end of July 2022, the European Union included Kozitsyn in its sanctions list.

Until 2022, Makhmudov, Kozitsyn and Bokarev controlled the Cypriot company Selmareco Limited, which owned an 85% stake in UMMC. In turn, UMMC owned a 52.7% stake in the Kuzbassrazrezugol coal company (according to the results of 2022, it produced more than 44 million tons of coal, 2nd place in Russia). Makhmudov, Kozitsyn and Bokarev held another 35% stake in Kuzbassrazrezugol through other Cypriot offshore companies. Another Cypriot holding, Starlion Limited, controlled the Vostochny Port coal terminals in the Far East and Rosterminalugol in the Baltic. The effective total share of Makhmudov, Kozitsyn and Bokarev in this business was about 77%.

At the end of 2022, the total revenue of the main assets associated with the UMMC (the UMMC itself, Kuzbassrazrezugol, the logistics company Ugol-Trans, Rosterminalugol and Vostochny Port) amounted to almost 890 billion rubles, the total net profit exceeded 190 billion rubles.

Kamilov Jr. was born in 1972, graduated from MGIMO and Moscow State University. He worked as the first vice-president of Gazprombank and was a member of the boards of directors of the OMZ machine-building holding owned by the bank and its subsidiaries. 

In 2018, the Kommersant newspaper wrote that persons associated with Doniyor Kamilov could manage the shares of Uzbekugol JSC, which produces about 4 million tons of coal per year in Uzbekistan. In February 2022, one of Kamilov's companies acquired the largest distillery in Uzbekistan. 

Former UMMC beneficiary Iskander Makhmudov, like Kamilov, was born in Uzbekistan, in Bukhara, and graduated from Tashkent State University. 

Earlier, it was also reported that the former central building of the National Security Service on Sayilgokh Street in Tashkent was sold for 210 billion soums. Metropol Group LLC became the winner of the tender. The founder is the son of the Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, Doniyor Kamilov.