Sergey Kurchenko

Serhiy Vitaliiovych "Sergey" Kurchenko (Ukrainian: Сергі́й Віта́лійович Ку́рченко; born 21 September 1985) is a Ukrainian businessman and founder/owner of the group of companies "Gas Ukraine", which controls 18% of the liquefied gas market in Ukraine and has an annual turnover of about 10 billion dollars.^{[citation needed]} Kurchenko is also the owner and president of FC Metalist Kharkiv and The Ukrainian Media Holding group.

Biography

Serhiy Kurchenko was born 21 September 1985 in Kharkiv city on the residential area of Saltovka in a low-income family. The teachers and classmates describe him as closed and restrained person. The employees describe him as a communicable person, but they can’t remember nothing striking about their colleague.

Education^[1]

• 1992-2002 Secondary school number 122 (Kharkiv)
• 2002-2006 National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute". Got a basic higher education in the field of "Economics and Entrepreneurship" and the qualification of "Bachelor" specialty "Accounting and Auditing"
• 2006-2008 National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute". Got a full degree in the "Intellectual Property"
• 2009-2011 The National University "Yaroslav the Wise Law Academy of Ukraine" He got a second degree in "Law" and qualified as a lawyer.

CAREER

Serhiy started working in a courier company Naftogaz when he was 16.
"S. Kurchenko advanced from courier to the deputy commercial director, who oversaw the direction of wholesale trade in two years. He has organized from the ground up operating unit wholesale store liquefied gas in the short time. The projects which were implemented by Serhiy made possible to increase the "Ekspogaz" company's profits”, - written in the official biography of Sergei Kurchenko.
Kurchenko retired from the "Ekspogaz" and started his own business in 2005 when he was 19 years old.

In the official biography of the present owner of "Metalist" about this period is said extremely vaguely:
"The experience and attracted financing allowed him to carry out a few successful investment projects in the primary market building and the land market in the Kharkiv region. In the period from 2005 to 2008, till the economic crisis, the rise of prices on the real estate market in Ukraine was more than 30% for year."
There is no indication of projects or even the name of the firm.

"GAZ UKRAINE 2009"

In 2009, Serhiy Kurchenko founded a group of companies "Gas Ukraine 2009". The group includes 55 companies of different kinds of activities. All companies registered in Kharkiv region and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.^[2]
The main activity of the group is the sale of petroleum products, the implementation of the liquefied gas and the public procurement.
According to the information from the deputy of party "Svoboda" Yuri Sirotyuk “ the Group of companies "Gas of Ukraine 2009" in fact monopolized the liquefied gas market in Ukraine and also made the smuggling of gasoline in Ukraine. For this purpose are used the schemes "Interrupted transit" and "fake exports."^[3]

THE OWNER OF FC «METALIST»

In December 2012, Alexander Yaroslavsky sold Serhiy Kurchenko the club "Metalist". The sale looked hurried and was realized against the background of the conflict between the government of Kharkiv and the ex-co-owner of the stadium Metalist. 30 December 2012 in Kiev in the office of the "Gas Ukraine 2009" the new owner of Kharkiv "Metalist" Serhiy Kurchenko had meeting with the head trainer Myron Markevich, General Director Sergei Volik and Sport Director Eugene Krasnikov.^[4]

The Controlling shareholder of Greek FC “PAOK” Ivan Savvidi ironically hinted that Serhiy Kurchenko isn`t the owner of FC "Metalist". When the journalist of "The View" newspaper asked about a game of chess with the owner "Metalist", Savvidi said that he plays only with the real owners. “Who is the true owner of the "Metalist"? Come on, I know a little more than you think”.^[5]

VETEK Group of Companies

22 February 2013 press-service of the group of companies "Gas Ukraine 2009" announced the formation of a new group of companies "East European Energy Company."(VETEK). The new group includes other companies and two major companies - LLC "VETEK" and LLC "VETEK." Serhiy Kurchenko would control the development strategy of the new group.^[6]

ODESSA REFINERY

26 February 2013 the company "Lukoil" sold 99.6% of the shares of the Odessa refinery the group of companies "VETEK". The ceremonial launch of the plant was happened 29 March but the plant still doesn`t work.^[7]

THE OWNER OF UKRAINIAN MEDIA HOLDING

21 June VETEK group announced the purchase of Ukrainian Media Holding (UMH group). Despite the fact that the founder of UMH Boris Lozhkin tried to convince the public that the transaction had just the commercial nature, many experts were talking about cleaning information field for 2015 for the group’s of companies VETEK benefit. The chief editor of "Forbes Ukraine" Vladimir Fedorin sure that the sale of "Forbes Ukraine" is the end of the project in its current form and he is convinced that the buyer pursues one of three purposes: to shut the mouth to journalists before the presidential election, to whitewash own reputation or use the edition to resolve the issues that do not have nothing to do with the media business.^[8]

UMH group manages a portfolio of more than 50 brands in Ukraine. Among them are: Forbes, Vogue, Reporter, Focus, Telenedelya, i.ua, bigmir.net, football.ua, Retro FM, our radio, Europa Plus, Autoradio, Arguments and Facts, Komsomolskaya Pravda and others. In 42 offices in Russia and Ukraine work about 4,000 employees. According to reports, UMH group revenue in 2011 was $ 138 million.^[9]

23 August 2013 Kurchenko had a meeting with the editors of media "Ukrainian media holding" and presented a new structure named “VETEK Media”. "VETEK Media” is one of the directions of our business. We will continue our development in Ukraine, Russia and Europe. Today the main asset of media direction is UMH", - said Kurchenko.^[10]

JSC "BROKBIZNESSBANK"

17 th of July 2013 signed the agreement that Serhiy Kurchenko becomes the owner of 80% of the shares Brockbusinessbank VETEK. The new head of Supervisory Board of Bank is Boris Timonkin, and Chairman of the Board - Igor Franzkevich. Brokbusinessbank conducts a significant amount of salary projects. In particular, it served the accounts by the Interior Ministry.^[11]

THE OWNER OF THE “METALIST STADIUM”

28 August 2013 Serhiy Kurchenko bought the stadium "Metalist". He payd 674 million 522 thousand UAH which was 84 hryvnia more than the start price. All the necessary documents would be signed in September 2013. "The only participant of the contest was" SK "Metalist Stadium," which is part of the football club "Metalist" owned by Serhiy Kurchenko "- noted in the club.^[12]

Communication and cooperation

Serhiy is 27 years old now and he is the founder of the whole group of companies. Media call him “The Business Sensation of Ukraine 2012”, “The Gas King of Ukraine”. To the outside world Serhiy Kurchenko remains a mythical character. There are no interview, no alive comments, no appearances on open business forums but only the official and carefully adjusted press releases.

In the investigative journalist great achievements in the field of trade liquefied natural gas, oil products and products for the oil and gas industry Serhiy Kurchenko associate with the patronage of high-ranking officials in the government of Ukraine, namely with son of Prosecutor General of Ukraine and the Party of regions MP Artem Pshonka, the eldest son of President Viktor Yanukovych Alexander Yanukovych, first Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Arbuzov and Alexander Klimenko, Minister of revenue of Ukraine.^[13]

Sergei Kurchenko denies these connections.^[14]

Links

• The official site of Sergey Kurchenko
• The biography on site FC "Metalist"
• The official site of the Group of companies "VETEK"

Notes