Shalva Chigirinsky

Shalva Chigirinsky (, born July 1, 1949) is an Israeli-Russian businessman, who was the major shareholder of AIM-listed British oil company Sibir Energy. As a principal owner of Russian Land Ltd, he was involved in the implementation of major development projects: the reconstruction of Hotel Rossiya, the construction of the Russia Tower in Moscow, the construction of the cultural and business center Crystal Island, and the reconstruction of New Holland Island in Saint Petersburg. In 2008, Forbes ranked him as the 524th richest person in the world and 58th on its list of Russian billionaires.

Biography Shalva Chigirinsky was born into a Georgian Jewish family on July 1, 1949, in Kutaisi. He attended the First State Medical University in Moscow during his post-secondary education.

Development business

After returning to Russia in the early 1990s, Chigirinsky, as the S+T Group Handels GmbH majority owner, managed construction and reconstruction of real estate projects, including Moscow's heritage landmarks. The businessman started his development activities back in the days of the first city mayor Gavriil Popov. The first landmark project in Moscow was an office block for the Moscow Complex of Urban Planning Policy and Construction in Nikitsky Lane. Back in the early 1990s, the businessman met Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and his wife Yelena Baturina. As a result, he was able to ensure the growth of his development business. By 1997, Chigirinsky bought out Stock's share of the business and renamed the company ST Group, becoming chairman of the board of directors.

In 2001, Chigirinsky established the Moscow Development Company (MDC) on a parity basis with the Moscow Government. The most known MDC's projects were the construction of the International Business Center "Moscow City" and the establishment of Metro-Real retail chain of 20 hypermarkets, under an agreement with the German Metro Group. The total floor space of projects Chigirinsky was involved in exceeded 2 million m2 by the middle of 2007. The largest units were constructions of the Russia Tower in Moscow City (400,000 m2) and the multifunctional complex "Yugra" in Khanty-Mansiysk (161,000 m2); reconstructions of the Rossiya Hotel (410,000 m2) and New Holland Island in Saint Petersburg (68,000 m2). Sir Norman Foster was invited as an architect for most of the units. Chigirinsky implemented some of the landmark projects in collaboration with Russian retail businessman Igor Kesaev and Viktor Rashnikov, the owner of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works.

Petroleum business Alongside the development business, Chigirinsky entered the oil business market in the 1990s. Cooperating with BP in 1996, the businessman founded the Petrol Complex Company, which created a network of gas stations in Moscow under the BP brand. Chigirinsky owned 25% of the company.

In the fall of 2007 Sibir Energy and the Moscow City Government merged their refining assets, as a result of which Sibir Energy became the owner of 100% of Moscow Oil and Gas Company which, in turn, owned 50.08% of Moscow Oil Refinery, 38% of Mosnefteproduct (a chain of oil depots and fuel stations near Moscow) and 100% of Moscow Fuel Company (a chain of fuel stations in Moscow). A total of 139 filling stations and fuel bases in the Moscow region were under the control of the merged company. In exchange, the Moscow Government received 18.03% of the company's common stock and an option to repurchase another 3.16% within a year and a half. The deal completed the creation of a vertically integrated oil company.

2008 financial crisis The fall in demand for real estate and the freezing of credit lines during the 2008 financial crisis had a negative impact on Chigirinsky's businesses.

In 2011 and 2012, he sold his stake in the Russia Tower and Hotel Rossiya projects to Rashnikov and Nader for US$60 million in total.

After the hotel opened, Shalva Chigirinsky said that the market of "walking distance resorts" or "vertical resorts" is extremely promising. And he announced plans to open a second similar project in Chicago. He and his partners are also working on projects to build similar hotels in Canadian cities, as well as in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Family and personal life In 2003–2009, he was married to Tatyana Panchenkova. In the course of the couple's long-term divorce settlement followed up by courts in Russia and the United States, Panchenkova filed a lawsuit in Connecticut accusing her ex-husband of "physical, psychological and emotional abuse" over a span of 10 years. Additionally, she filed a separate case, seeking substantial post-divorce pay-offs allegedly owed due to the order of the Russian judge. However, in October 2014, a jury of the Waterbury Courthouse found Chigirinsky not guilty on all charges.

In early February 2017, the Court of the State of Connecticut dismissed the case against Chigirinsky, finding him not guilty. The same year in November, ex-spouses settled their dispute over property in the US, and the case over supplementary payments was also dismissed.