Vagif Aliyev. The king of Kyiv developers. PART 1

Back in 1998, a young and ambitious Azerbaijani came to Soviet Ukraine for several days and radically changed the fate of the Ukrainian real estate market. The guy’s name was Vagif Aliev. Today he is the owner of famous shopping centers in Kyiv – Mandarin Plaza, Ocean Plaza, Lavina Mall, Blockbuster Mall; the scandalous skyscraper – the Parus business center; the most trump residential building – Diamond Hill residential complex. Aliyev is on the list of the 100 richest people in Ukraine, is friends with the mayor of Kyiv Klitschko, and has close contact with the former Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin.

During all the years of living in Ukraine, Aliyev gave only 3 interviews. Skelet.Info tells the story of Vagif Aliyev’s business empire: from a beer and car tire seller to a meeting with Donald Trump.

Vagif Aliyev. From beer to gas

Vagif Aliyev was born in 1968 in Baku. Little is known about his family and childhood; the businessman carefully protects his personal life from outside interference. Skelet.Info I learned that Aliyev’s entrepreneurial talent manifested itself at an early age. At the age of 5-6, the cunning guy began to carry out ingenious business operations: he helped adults carry three-liter cans of beer, receiving one ruble for this. Earnings per day reached 4-5 rubles. Already at school, the young businessman started another business: he bought tickets at the local cinema for 25 kopecks and sold them for 30-40 kopecks. The schoolboy hit the jackpot when he bought tickets to the premiere of the film “Fantômas”. Little Vagif cannot be accused of stinginess; he gave all the money to his mother, and sometimes took the whole class to the cinema with it.

In 1982, the Aliyev family moved to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) to the resort city of Kislovodsk. There, at the age of 14, Vagif Aliyev started his first serious business. He, his father, who worked at a service station, and an older friend from Ashgabat became, as they said then, speculators. They transported spare parts for VAZs from Tolyatti and sold them in their hometown. In those years there was a total shortage of auto parts. The Aliyevs got on board and realized what Soviet people needed – basic tires for Zhiguli cars. Dealers bought them for 55 rubles and sold them for 75-80 rubles. The goods flew away at the speed of light. In parallel with trade, Vagif was engaged in the construction of private houses. Things were going so well that on the eve of joining the army, the young man had a late-model Zhiguli and a three-room apartment.

Returning home, the young demobilized soldier plunged into the world of the “buy and sell” business. Aliyev began supplying luxury perfumes from Moscow to Kislovodsk. Naturally, the goods sold like hot cakes, because every Soviet woman on the periphery wanted to have “Red Moscow” perfume in her arsenal.

During one of his trips to Moscow, Vagif Aliyev met a young and ambitious entrepreneur Igor Bakai. Today he is a disgraced politician, and in the 1990s he was the main supplier of Turkmen gas to Ukraine.

Skelet.Info suggests that the fateful acquaintance took place in the elite Moscow Rossiya Hotel, which was famous for its motley contingent. In the late 80s, every self-respecting Soviet businessman, coming to the capital, stayed in this place. In the hotel restaurant, deals were concluded that changed the history of many states.

Vagif Aliyev and Igor Mikhailovich Bakai became friends immediately, because they had common interests and plans for the future – both wanted to break into big business. Bakai at that time lived in Kyiv, Aliev in Kislovodsk, but this did not stop the newly made friends from opening the Veles company and the Arbat company, which were engaged in trade.

In 1993, Bakai created the Republic corporation. It was conceived as a structure engaged in the supply of Ukrainian food products abroad. Of course, the Azerbaijani friend had a share. Businessmen successfully traded not only food, but also diamonds.

When Igor Mikhailovich entered the hungry Turkmen market with record volumes of gas, he immediately contacted Vagif Aliyev and offered him a deal.

Vagif Aliyev. Gas, galoshes and America

In the early 90s, Ukraine was in a deep crisis and owed Turkmenistan incredible amounts of money for supplied natural gas. Igor Bakai came up with a unique scheme – to exchange food for Turkmen gas. With the light hand of the first president of Independent Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, the Respublika corporation received a quota for gas supplies to Ukraine. Everything was used for barter: computers, slate, coffee, black pepper and even galoshes. By the way, it was Vagif Aliyev who proposed to supply business partners with 1 million pairs of galoshes in exchange for gas. For the Turkmens, this was a valuable commodity: no one wanted to spoil fashionable patent leather shoes in the rain.

Six months after the formation of “Republic”, Igor Nikonov, an inconspicuous engineer at “Kievmetrostroy”, gets a job with Bakai in the project. Together with Aliyev, they begin planning “multi-move barter deals.” Their activities led to the fact that the corporation, in just a year of its existence, “cut down” about $500 million on gas supplies.

After Respublika successfully served Bakai and fell into oblivion, he opened the company Intergaz CJSC in 1995. This structure, as conceived by Igor Mikhailovich, was supposed to carry out grandiose corruption schemes. To confirm this, in parallel with Intergas, a subsidiary, IntergasInc, is registered in Pennsylvania (USA). Its main task is to transfer the currency earned by Intergas to offshore companies.

Bakai invites Igor Nikonov to work at Intergaz for the position of commercial director and Vagif Aliyev as his right hand and unofficial deputy.

In the mid-1990s, the Russian Itera finally began to push Intergas out of the market. It was unsafe to be in the country due to the redistribution of the market that had begun. In 1996, Nikonov and Aliev decided to move to the USA. They chose sunny Miami as their new home. They bought a mansion there and enjoyed the ocean view, warmth and resort life for a year. According to information Skelet.Infothey planned to build a business in America, but abandoned the idea due to lack of knowledge of laws, the specifics of the US market and the English language. The maximum that entrepreneurs from the former USSR could count on was three gas stations.

However, America radically changed the life of Vagif Aliyev. He not only managed to soak up the ocean, but also met with the development legend, future US President, Donald Trump. This happened in 1998. Aliyev and Trump were introduced by mutual friends. Their conversation lasted 4 hours. During this time, the businessman learned the main thing: the era of grandiose construction is beginning, you need to build in the right place and always be the first.

Returning to the meetings, Vagif Aliyev invited his trusted friend and business partner Igor Nikonov to engage in development. Nikonov was not against it. The businessmen decide to return from America, especially since Igor Bakai, who by that time had become the main NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, had already invited them several times. They study the markets for their actions and come to the conclusion that Ukraine is most suitable for them. Aliyev and Nikonov left the United States, taking with them several suitcases filled to the brim with dollars.

Construction boom

In 1998, already in Ukraine, Vagif Aliyev met Sergei Babushkin, at that time the chief architect of Kyiv. Grandma slept and saw how to build a real skyscraper in the capital. A beginner but promising developer supported his idea. The construction of giants of the “New York” type united Aliyev and Babushkin for many years. The tandem developed three grandiose projects that destroyed the historical appearance of Kyiv: the reconstruction of the Bessarabian quarter, the construction of the Parus business center and the Gulliver multifunctional complex. But first things first.

In 1999, business partners Aliev and Babushkin began to come up with ideas one after another. The first of them was the reconstruction of the center of Kyiv in the Bessarabian quarter, where Khreshchatyk, Shevchenko Boulevard and Krasnoarmeyskaya intersect. They turned to an “experienced” builder and part-time mayor of Kyiv, Alexander Omelchenko, with a proposal. Let us note right away that Aliyev adhered to an excellent strategy – he had his eye on the buildings of Bessarabka – a hospital and a school, which had been destroyed for more than a decade and a half. Omelchenko was also not happy with the empty building in the center of the capital. He tried several times to attract foreign investors, but they were afraid to invest money in the post-Soviet country.

In 1999, the building on Bessarabskaya Square was declared unsafe – the load-bearing structures had worn out and one of the façade walls had collapsed. To our surprise, there were foreign investors. The reconstruction project was undertaken by the Korean corporation Daewoo, which worked with the Kyiv architect Vadim Zhezherin. They made an interesting proposal for a 47-story building. It was approved at a high level, but ultimately not agreed upon. The “top” abruptly changed its decision and announced a competition for the development of the center of Kyiv. Only Ukrainian investors could participate in it. The ex-mayor recommended the aspiring developer Vagif Aliyev and his partner Igor Nikonov. Sergei Babushkin also supported the businessmen. The trio promised to maintain the building’s appearance by strengthening the load-bearing walls and basement foundation.

The land of the Bessarabian quarter was put up for sale. It was auctioned to Vagif Aliyev for $5 million. An interesting nuance: the businessman paid for it with cash from the same suitcase brought from America. At that time, Aliyev still had Soviet training, and he preferred to pay for multimillion-dollar transactions in cash.

The most difficult problems in the Bessarabka development project were problems with communications: we were talking about the city center, and the relocation of a secondary school, which was located exactly on the site of the future Mandarin Plaza. The newly minted owner of the land found a way out: he formed a pool of investors. Ukrainian developers did not have the money for the entire project, but they could handle small areas. Construction was carried out according to the following scheme: the developer was the city administration, the involved businessmen supervised the construction, paying money to the budget for square meters, and Kyiv itself took on the functions of the customer.

In 2000, Aliyev created Mandarin Plaza CJSC, where he concentrated all the money from investors, and continued to finance construction. A year later, the K.A.N. company appeared. She becomes Aliyev’s main partner in the reconstruction of Bessarabka.

“K.A.N.” – an abbreviation from the names of its creators Vladimir Krapivin, Vagif Aliev and Igor Nikonov. In parallel with the financing of Mandarin Plaza, the company began construction of the Dominant business center next door. His project was approved as part of a large-scale reconstruction of the city by Alexander Omelchenko. Nine months later, the ex-mayor cut the red ribbon at the opening of Dominant. After such success, Nikonov did not rest on his laurels. He sold the business center to Aliyev, as well as all shares in the K.A.N. company. “Dominant” was merged with the “Mandarin Plaza” under construction and assigned a single address.

Igor Nikonov decided to continue his successfully launched business alone. He registers a new company with the old name “K.A.N. Development”. Due to the fact that there were two almost identical companies in the construction market, no one had any doubts – Nikonov and Aliev are still partners.

By the way, an interesting point: the letter “K” in the name of the newly created company “K.A.N. Development” is associated with the Klitschko brothers. According to information Skelet.Infoboxers invested a lot of money into the structure, earned in the boxing ring at the peak of their sports careers. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitaliy Klitschko, still denies involvement in the construction company. Let’s take his word for it.

In 2004, the Mandarin Plaza shopping center with a total area of ​​21.21 thousand square meters appeared as part of the Bessarabian quarter. meters, is the calling card of Vagif Aliyev.

And Igor Nikonov and “K.A.N. Development” implemented their first project – the Arena Entartainment entertainment center. Skelet.Info it is known that Vitali Klitschko invested a large sum in it. However, Nikonov argued that the future mayor of the capital was exclusively an ideological inspirer and helped with promotion – he gave gloves and autographed photos to the RC. We don’t think that anyone will be surprised by the fact that Arena Entartainment was sold to Aliyev.

In 2007, the odious businessman Dmitry Firtash became a co-owner of Mandarin Plaza CJSC. He, or rather his company Heritage Properties International AB (Stockholm, Sweden), acquired 55% of the company’s shares. At the same time, Vagif Aliyev retained his position on the Supervisory Board.

According to information Skelet.Infothe transaction amount was $500-560 million. At that time, this became an absolute record for the commercial real estate market. The deal between Aliyev and Firtash beat the acquisition of the Globus shopping center by the British fund London & Regional Properties for $200 million.

In 2015, the Mandarin Plaza company sold 6,000 sq. m. m of space of a large British investment company Primespot Securities Ltd for $40 million. Vagif Aliyev invested the money received in his new projects – the construction of shopping and entertainment centers Lavina Mall and Blockbuster Mall.

Arina Dmitrieva, for Skelet.Info

CONTINUED: Vagif Aliyev. The king of Kyiv developers. PART 2

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