According to Forbes, Shukhrat Ibragimov, co-owner of Eurasian Resources Group, holds the seventh spot among the most influential businessmen in Kazakhstan. However, it appears he may be tarnishing the legacy of his father, oligarch Alijan Ibragimov.
Yet, upon closer examination, the situation is not as straightforward as it seems. It raises questions why the state, which owns 40% of Eurasian Resources Group, is taking this position.
Alijan Ibragimov was one of the partners in the so-called Asian Trinity (Alijan Ibragimov, Patokh Shodiyev, and Alexander Mashkevich), who in the early nineties managed to take control of part of the industry of the former Central Asian republics of the USSR, thus turning into oligarchs. Among the most famous assets of this trio is the Eurasian Financial Company (EFC) and Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), in which, after his father’s death, Shukhrat Ibragimov represents the family’s interests and, since October last year, has held the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In other companies owned by the "Asian Trinity," Shukhrat Ibragimov also holds key positions - he is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC "Eurasia Insurance Company," a member of the Board of Directors of JSC "Eurasian Financial Company," and JSC "Eurasian Bank."
But this is the outward side, behind which a deep crisis is hidden, compounded by external factors. The reason for the internal crisis in the group of companies of the "Asian Trinity" is banal: two founding fathers of the group - Alexander Mashkevich and Alijan Ibragimov - have passed away, and, as usual, their heirs fought among themselves. The third founder - Patokh Shodiyev - is still alive and has not lost his business acumen, but in this situation, he cannot resolve the disagreements between the heirs of his partners. Moreover, last year he stepped down from the Board of Directors of ERG.
External factors are overlaying the internal squabble between the heirs - another Kazakh-Russian young oligarch, Timur Turlov, has set his sights on the assets of the "Asian Group," with the support of the Kazakh authorities. A significant part of the group’s assets is located in Kazakhstan. Timur Turlov is eyeing ERG’s subsidiary, Eurasian Financial Co, which includes the broker "Eurasian Capital," the insurance company "Eurasia," and the bank "Eurasian." He is ready to lay out a billion dollars for it, and the Shodiyev and Mashkevich families were in agreement, but Shukhrat Ibragimov blocked the deal. He filed a lawsuit in Almaty to prevent the other two families from selling their company.
Then we have the classic scenario - the conflict within the group is escalating, risking turning it into a bankrupt entity. The initial reason that prompted the co-owners to consider selling assets was apparently Shukhrat Ibragimov himself. Although he tries to position himself as an "experienced manager and successful businessman," his business history confirms an age-old truth: nature relaxes on the children of geniuses. Regardless of how one might feel about the "Asian Trinity," Alijan Ibragimov, Patokh Shodiyev, and Alexander Mashkevich cannot be denied their business acumen and ability to find common ground with the authorities of the countries they worked in.
Which is not something that can be said about Shukhrat Ibragimov, who assumed control of one of the group’s main assets. While Alijan Ibragimov and Alexander Mashkevich were alive, Shukhrat Ibragimov was not allowed near the real management. He was kept in positions that sounded impressive, though he did not participate in the real management of the business: "developing relations with clients" and the "remunerations committee" are clearly not the most crucial positions, no matter how weighty they might sound.
But last year, the situation changed dramatically - Shukhrat Ibragimov took on a key position at ERG. Why this happened is unclear, especially given that 40% of ERG belongs to the state of Kazakhstan. Yet it did happen - in October last year, Shukhrat Ibragimov replaced Benedikt Sobotka as CEO, who had held the position for more than ten years.
Although Shukhrat Ibragimov presents himself as a successful businessman, the seventh place in Forbes’ list is his father’s achievement, because all of Shukhrat Ibragimov’s independent projects ended in failure. In 2021, he announced that he was the "founder of the first private space company in Kazakhstan Eurasian Space Ventures (ESV)." And he "attached" himself to Elon Musk’s name with his rocket program: Musk’s Falcon 9 rocket "launched satellites that ensure the security of the operation of his own cryptocurrency exchange."
The founder of the Biteeu exchange, naturally, was Shukhrat Ibragimov himself. And the satellites launched into space by Musk’s rocket "ensured the security operation" of this Biteeu cryptocurrency exchange. What happened with the Koran, which was also broadcast by these satellites, is unknown. But here’s how it ended for the Biteeu exchange and Shukhrat Ibragimov’s "golden cryptocurrency," it ended sadly: there is no exchange, there is no currency. The exchange’s website does not work, the exchange is not tracked, reserves are unknown.
In general, the project died without being born. How much money Shukhrat Ibragimov thus launched into space is unknown. But it is known how much money Shukhrat Ibragimov spent on noodle production, which he was starting with another businessman with a rather specific biography - Kenes Rakishev. Shukhrat Ibragimov pumped $23 million into the company Borealis Foods Inc. However, it is thoroughly unprofitable and appears to be on the verge of bankruptcy.
Why the Kazakh authorities, the Ministry of Finance of which owns 40% of the assets in the ERG corporation, did not block Shukhrat Ibragimov’s appointment to a key position in Eurasian Resources Group is unclear. But the result of his activity is evident. After his appointment, Shukhrat Ibragimov invested more than a billion dollars in projects in Congo. Here Eurasian Resources Group intends to build a cobalt enrichment plant and a copper smelting plant. The first project cost $250 million, the second more than $800 million.
How and with whom Shukhrat Ibragimov negotiated is unknown, but the outcome was a bit predictable: the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo recently suspended the work of nine subcontractors working on ERG projects. The government claims that local laws adopted in 2017 were violated, requiring the controlling shareholders of subcontractor companies to be citizens of the country. What will happen to the money Shukhrat Ibragimov invested in a highly unstable and deeply corrupt African country is unknown. They may meet the fate of the money spent on the space exchange and noodles.
Meanwhile, in Kazakhstan, the conflict within Eurasian Resources Group is gaining momentum: following Shukhrat Ibragimov’s lawsuit, an Almaty court prohibited holding extraordinary general meetings of shareholders of JSC "Eurasian Financial Company." At these meetings, shareholders intended to remove Shukhrat Ibragimov from the position of CEO and unlock the decision to sell the assets of Eurasian Resources Group to Timur Turlov’s Freedom Holding Corp. Which clearly would have been salvation for Eurasian Resources Group under the circumstances that arose due to Shukhrat Ibragimov’s management.
It seems that other shareholders of Eurasian Resources Group are in a panic: not only is the group losing colossal amounts of money due to Shukhrat Ibragimov’s management, it risks being sanctioned internationally through its shareholder and leader, who in 2023 bought the Forte Village resort in Sardinia from the brother of sanctioned Russian businessman Musa Bazhaev, who was thereby saving his property from confiscation. This deal may cost not only Shukhrat Ibragimov dearly but also other owners of Eurasian Resources Group – the EU court is currently considering the issue of introducing sanctions against Ibragimov. This procedure is quite real, especially considering Shukhrat Ibragimov’s public friendship with Ramzan Kadyrov.
However, there is a strange situation in this story that nobody can explain. As has already been mentioned, 40% of Eurasian Resources Group’s shares belong to the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan, while another 33.3% are controlled by the Shodiyev and Mashkevich families. Why the owners of two-thirds of the shares allowed Shukhrat Ibragimov’s appointment as the head of the company is a question that remains unresolved. Without their votes, this simply could not have happened.
Another question is why the Almaty court makes decisions in favor of Shukhrat Ibragimov. Kazakhstan is not America, where the rule of law prevails. And 40% of Eurasian Resources Group, let us remind, belongs to the state of Kazakhstan, meaning its president and entourage. Yet the court sides with Ibragimov. This means that he somehow came to an understanding with Tokayev. How and on what terms? Does this mean that the Shodiyev and Mashkevich families are being pushed out of Kazakhstan? But why then didn’t the deal with Timur Turlov, who is favored by the current Kazakh government, go through? The answer to these and other questions is still lacking. So let’s wait for the events to unfold.
