EAM Group, Evrazholding, Evraz-group

In 1992, Alexander Abramov and fellow students at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in Moscow founded Euroazmetall LLP (European-Asian metals). Information was published that Abramov worked in the company of the Chernoi brothers "Trans World Group", which in the first half of the 90s controlled a significant part of the Russian metallurgy.

In 1995, on the basis of Euroazmetall LLP, EAM Group of Enterprises CJSC was formed, which at the end of 1995 signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Italian-Swiss company Duferco, becoming the owner of a controlling stake in Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant. According to Alexander Abramov, his company gained control over NTMK by accumulating debts from the metallurgical plant to coal sellers and exchanging them for NTMK shares. In the same 1995, Evrazholding LLC was established, which became the management company of the enterprises belonging to the EAM group.

The press wrote that Abramov had agreed with the general director of NTMK, Yuri Komratov, that EAM Group would receive a 10% stake in the plant, in exchange for which Komratov would head a new coal and metallurgical holding. However, Abramov subsequently took control of the plant's financial flows and product export issues, removing Vyacheslav Kushchev, who represented the interests of the FAPSI management at NTMK, from these most important levers of management of the plant, and with the support of Governor Eduard Rossel dismissed Komratov (in 1998) from the post of NTMK CEO.

Metal supplies by Evrazholding from NTMK were carried out through Ferrox CJSC. One of the main consumers of NTMK metal was the structures of the Russian railways, which at that time were under the control of the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Federation. This led to close ties between Evrazholding and the Ministry of Railways. Alexander Abramov joined the board of directors of JSCB Transcreditbank, controlled by the leadership of the Ministry of Railways (Nikolai Aksenenko). The structures of the Ministry of Railways and Evrazholding jointly established companies through which supplies of metal from NTMK were made.

Information was published that in the mid-1990s, Moscow businessman Oleg Boyko (15-20% of shares) was the co-owner of the EAM group (15-20% of shares), who provided Alexander Abramov with not only money, but also political connections. Until 1995, Boyko headed the executive committee of the Democratic Choice of Russia party, and in 1994-1996 he sat on the board of directors of Public Russian Television AOZT. Information was published that Boyko is a member of Boris Berezovsky's team, and suggestions were made that Alexander Abramov could also be a member of this team.

At the end of the 1990s, Vasily Rudenko became the vice-president of Evrazholding, who before that was the deputy head of the GUBOP of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, and even earlier headed the UBOP in the Sverdlovsk region. During this period, Evrazholding fought for control over NTMK with other large FIGs with the active participation of law enforcement agencies and criminal structures. According to Alexander Khinshtein, the power support to Evrazholding was provided by the assistant to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia Alexander Orlov, who was in partnership with Boris Berezovsky. As a result, Evrazholding emerged victorious from this confrontation, and the security service of NTMK was headed by the former senior officials of the Organized Crime Control Department in the Sverdlovsk Region.

In the course of corporate wars in the late 1990s, there was a conflict between entrepreneurs who were in the inner circle of the Chernoi brothers. One of these entrepreneurs (Jalol Khaidarov) accused the Chernoi brothers of being connected with the Izmaylovo criminal group and claimed that Evrazholding and the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company were engaged in laundering criminal money from the Izmaylovo organized criminal group. Later in the 2000s, information was published on the Internet that Alexander Abramov was in the past a top manager of the Chernoi brothers' Trans World Group.

In 2000, Evrazholding bought the West Siberian Metallurgical Plant (Kemerovo Region), displacing the structures of the Alpha Group, with the support of the Governor of the Kemerovo Region Aman Tuleyev. Also in the early 2000s, the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant (Kemerovo Region) came under the control of Evrazholding. As a result, Evrazholding controls about 40% of the Russian ferrous metallurgy. It is reported that under the control of Evrazholding are the coal mines of Raspadskaya and Polosukhinskaya, as well as the Nakhodka commercial sea port.

In 2002 Duferco Duferco sold its shares in NTMK (11%) to Evrazholding. As a result, Evrazholding became the owner of 57% of NTMK shares.

In 2003, in preparation for the Eurobond issue, Evrazholding partially disclosed its ownership structure to investors. The Cypriot company Crosland Ltd. was named the owner of the holding. Crosland's beneficiaries were not named in the prospectus.

In 2004, it was reported that Alexander Abramov bought out Oleg Boyko's share in the company.

In the same year, the company bought out the Kachkanarsky GOK, which supplies NTMK with iron ore, from the structures of Iskandar Makhmudov.

In early June 2005, the first public sale of shares (IPO) of Evraz-group on the London Stock Exchange took place. The company's capitalization was $ 5.1 billion. It was reported that the owner of the enterprises controlled by Evrazholding is the Luxembourg-based company Evraz Group S.A., 91.7% of which is owned by Crosland Global. The main beneficiary of Crosland Global is Alexander Abramov, who through this company controls 59.11% of the shares of Evraz Group S.A. Alexander Frolov (partner of Alexander Abramov) controls 28.2% of the shares of Evraz Group S.A.

In June 2006, entrepreneur Roman Abramovich became a partner of Abramov and Frolov: through a network of offshore companies, he acquired 40% of the Evraz Group shares from businessmen. The shares were transferred to Lanebrook, which became the owner of 82.67% of Evraz Group shares. At the same time, 50% of Lanebrook was transferred to Greenleas International Holdings Limited, the ultimate beneficiary of which is Abramovich's management company Millhouse.

In August 2008, information was published on the distribution of the company's shares among the main beneficiaries (Roman Abramovich's Millhouse Capital was named the owner of 36.44%; Abramov - 24.29%, Frolov - 12.15%, Ukrainian businessman Igor Kolomoisky - 9.72% of Evras shares Group).

In October 2008, at the elections for the mayor of Nizhny Tagil, the NTMK management supported Valentina Isaeva, despite her membership in United Russia, which competed with the official candidate from this party, Alexei Chekanov, who was supported by Governor Eduard Rossel. Isaeva won the elections, and the scandalous situation with the loss of the official candidate from the ruling party became the reason for the resignation from the post of the head of the Sverdlovsk branch of United Russia, Alexei Vorobyov, who was also the chairman of the regional government and was a confidant of Eduard Rossel.

As of December 2008, Evras Group included not only NTMK, ZSMK and KMK, but also plants in Italy (Palini e Bertoli), Czech Republic (Vitkovice Steel) and Ukraine (Dnepropetrovsk Petrovsky Metallurgical Plant, as well as three coke-chemical enterprises - Dneprodzerzhinsk coke plant, "Bagleikoks" and "Dneprokoks"). It was emphasized that the company's North American division Evraz Inc. NA had merged by that time the metallurgical assets of Evras Group: Oregon Steel Mills, Claymont Steel and Canadian IPSCO enterprises for the production of sheet and pipe products. In addition, Evras Group was called “a major player in the global vanadium market,” with assets including Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation, an integrated steel and vanadium company in South Africa, and Strategic Minerals Corporation and Nikom in the Czech Republic. The mining division of the Evraz Group, as of the beginning of 2009, united the mining enterprises of Evrazruda, Kachkanarsky and Vysokogorsky GOKs in Russia (Sverdlovsk region) and the Ukrainian mining and processing plant Sukha Balka. The website of the holding noted that Evraz Group also owned the Yuzhkuzbassugol company, 40% of the shares of Raspadskaya and 10% of the shares of the Chinese metallurgical company Delong (in 2008, Evraz Group signed an agreement to purchase up to 51% of the company's shares).

Having completed the re-registration of the company in the UK at the end of 2011, the owners announced the distribution of shares in Evraz plc:
- Roman Abramovich - 34,68%;
- Alexander Abramov - 24,64%;
- Alexander Frolov - 12,32%;
- Igor Kolomoisky - 4,48%;
- Evgeny Shvidler (Abramovich's partner) - 3,5%.

In 2012, the activities of the mayor of Nizhny Tagil, Valentina Isaeva, are harshly criticized, her connection with the leadership of NTMK is emphasized. It is alleged that Uralvagonzavod is NTMK's rival for power in Nizhny Tagil. In the fall of 2012, the former general director of NTMK Sergey Nosov, who in recent years worked in the structures of the state corporation "Russian Technologies", which controls Uralvagonzavod, wins the elections for the mayor of Nizhny Tagil. Thus, Sergei Nosov became a compromise figure for NTMK and Uralvagonzavod.

According to the Vedomosti newspaper in January 2017, Evraz shares were distributed as follows:
- Roman Abramovich - 31,03%;
- Alexander Abramov - 21,38%;
- Alexander Frolov - 10,68%;
- Gennady Kozovoy - 5,9%;
- Alexander Vagin – 5,84%;
- Evgeny Shvidler (Abramovich's partner) - 3,09%.

Date of information update: 2017.