FX.co ★ Top 5 private companies in Russia

Lukoil

Lukoil takes the lead among large non-state Russian companies. The overall revenue for the last year amounts to 7,841 billion rubles. The corporation is engaged in oil and gas exploration and production in 10 countries around the world. These reserves are enough to process for nearly 18 years. Lukoil’s share in the Russian market accounts for almost 12%. At present, the energy giant has 8 oil refineries and 6 gas processing plants across Russia. Petroleum products from Lukoil are in high demand in 19 countries worldwide. Since 2008, the corporation has expanded its sphere of interest to renewable energy sources.

Surgutneftegas

The second rank is also given to the oil and gas corporation, Surgutneftegas. Its overall annual revenue totals 1,814 billion rubles. Vladimir Bogdanov has been at the helm since 1984. The company operates mainly in three regions of the Russian Federation – West Siberia, East Siberia, and the Komi Republic. Surgutneftegas has amassed humongous funds in deposits and accounts with the bulk of them stored in foreign currencies. At present, the company’s funds are estimated at 3 trillion rubles.

X5 Retail Group

The third rank goes to Russia’s largest retailer which came to life as a result of a merger deal of the two well-known chain food stores – Pyatyorochka and Perekryostok. The total revenue for 2019 is measured at 1,734 billion rubles. The company is developing rapidly. The network of its supermarkets added 1,866 new stores in 2019, thus making up the total number of 17,025. The retailer expanded its network with the Karusel chain hypermarkets in 2008. The head office of X5 Retail Group is situated in the Netherlands.

Magnit

Magnit is ranked the fourth on the list. Founded in 1994 by Sergey Galitsky, the company’s annual revenue equaled 1,368.7 billion rubles last year. Magnit was considered the largest retailer by market capitalization 9 years ago. In 2013, the company was the leader among Russian food retailers in terms of the number of chain stores. Since 2018, the company has gone through structural changes. Its founder left the board. A few CEOs have been changed in the management team over a couple of years. Eventually, Florian Yansen was appointed a CEO in 2020 who is also a co-founder of Lamoda, one of Russia’s and CIS largest online apparel retailers.

Tatneft

Tatneft is another oil and gas non-state giant included in the top five. Its annual revenue amounts to 932.3 billion rubles. The government of the Tatarstan Republic owns 36% of its stock. President of Tatarstan Ruslan Minnikhanov is at the helm of the board of directors. Since 2018, Tatneft has attempted to launch overseas projects, some of them on the territories of Syria and Libya. However, such operations have not been put into practice due to geopolitical jitters. At present, the company is planning to set up nine oil exploration rigs beyond the Republic of Tatarstan.