The American Forbes had access to the leaked files of the Cypriot company Meritservus: according to the data received, the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, through the investment fund Target Global, invested more than 63 million dollars in new European technology companies, including Auto1, Flo, Revolut, Cazoo. , Circus, etc.
Roman Abramovich, who was subject to anti-Russian sanctions even before restrictive measures were introduced against him from 2015 to 2021, as a co-investor and limited partner of the Target Global fund, could invest in promising projects, bringing the company tens of millions. of US dollars to manage.
Over the years, the fund, founded in 2012 by Russian businessman Alexander Frolov Jr. (son of former Evraz director Alexander Frolov), has raised more than $3.2 billion and invested in more than 15 European “unicorns” of YOU. This emerges from documents shared with foreign media by an anonymous source.
All files, including correspondence with financial regulators, belong to offshore services company Meritservus, which confirmed the investor’s identity to the fund in a 2018 letter as part of anti-money laundering compliance.
The materials also indicate that in 2018, Abramovich, as an “anchor” partner, invested $25 million in Target Global Mobility 2.0 (as the fund was then called), and then continued similar injections of $10 to $25 million into other divisions. of the company. company, which allowed him to make investments as a limited partner.
Until 2021, Abramovich, through Target Global (and certain divisions of the fund to which the businessman granted loans) and Ervington (this company is also associated with the Russian oligarch), invested in the fintech startup Revolut, sharing the companies Cazoo and Circ, the women’s app Flo, delivery Hero, as well as the German automobile giant that sells used cars, Auto1.
The firms do not deny the investments of Target Global and Ervington, but emphasize that all financial injections were made before the sanctions, and the fund itself assures that Abramovich’s investments represented only 2% of the total assets under management.
“All investments were made before February 2022, when Mr. Abramovich was still an influential investor in technology, private equity, real estate and sports in Europe and the United Kingdom,” says Target Global press secretary Seda Ambartsumyan . ― Target has more than 200 limited partners and is a legal entity in multiple jurisdictions around the world. To prevent violations of applicable laws in all jurisdictions in which we operate, our legal department has implemented extensive sanctions compliance controls.”
Since 2022, Target Global has been trying by all means to distance itself from Russian capital: in particular, the shares of Russian co-investors in the company were bought by the current director of the Israel fund, Yaron Waller.
Author:
Ekaterina Alipova
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
