Vladimir Osipov - about the Football Leaks revelations. All Russian owners of foreign clubs: from Abramovich to Rybolovlev, the richest owners of football clubs

The former owner of the Uralkali company, billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, bought the Monaco football club. Information about this was disseminated by the club's press service.

According to the publication monacomatin.mc, under the terms of the deal, Dmitry Rybolovlev will invest €100 million in the development of the club over four years.

According to the terms of the agreement, 66.67% of the shares of the Monaco football club are transferred to the control of MSI, a company owned by Rybolovlev. The owner of 33% of the club's shares remains the Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club (AS Monaco FC), representing the interests of the government of the Principality of Monaco.

How, information that Rybolovlev was buying FC Monaco appeared in the French press at the end of November. However, then the billionaire denied his interest in the team.

But in early December, newspapers reported that Rybolovlev met with Prince Albert II of Monaco to specifically discuss the deal to buy the club.

The new board of directors of Monaco included Dmitry Rybolovlev himself and his daughter, Ekaterina Rybolovleva. According to the club's new owner, he sees the acquisition of the club "not as a sale and purchase transaction, but as the beginning of an effective partnership for the development" of Monaco.

“I am a long-time football fan. Having lived in Monaco for quite a long time, I understand that the Monaco football club is not just one of the country’s sports teams, it is one of the main symbols of the Principality, it is its pride and its traditions. I believe the club has great potential. And I hope that the club will be able to fully implement it in the French and European football arenas,” RIA Novosti quotes the statement of the new owner.

In turn, Prince Albert II of Monaco noted that Monaco, faced with financial difficulties, “had to find a first-class partner to ensure successful development.” “The concluded agreement opens a new page in the history of the club, so dear to our principality. “I wish the team to return to the heights that in the past made it one of the pearls of Monaco’s sporting life,” said Albert II.

Monaco Football Club is one of the oldest teams in Europe. It was founded back in 1919. The club plays in the French football championship and represents Monaco on the international stage. The club became the champion of France seven times, but did not achieve any significant success in the international arena. And at the end of the 2010-2011 season, the club was completely relegated to the Second League, taking 18th place.

For a long time he was the main owner of the Uralkali enterprise, the largest Russian producer of potash fertilizers. But in June last year he sold the company to the head of Nafta Moscow Suleiman Kerimov, as well as Filaret Galchev and Alexander Nesis. After the deal, Rybolovlev’s share in Uralkali was reduced to 10%.

Rybolovlev is included in the list of the 200 richest Russians according to Forbes - in 2011, the magazine estimated his fortune at $9.5 billion. He is also the seventh richest resident of Switzerland, where he has lived since 1995. Rybolovlev currently lives in Monaco.

The most expensive football player in Russia, Alexander Golovin, chose Monaco to continue his career. And now everyone who cares about the fate of the Russian national team will have to follow the club from the tiny principality. “KP” has picked up a few facts about Monaco that will help you get involved faster.

Russian owner Rybolovlev. Who is this?

Two Russian billionaires were vying for Golovin: Roman Abramovich's Chelsea and Dmitry Rybolovlev's Monaco were vying for the midfielder. A businessman from Perm won. Rybolovlev made a fortune by buying shares of Uralkali in the 1990s. In 2010, he sold them to the structures of Suleiman Kerimov for about 5.3 billion dollars and moved to Monte Carlo. Rybolovlev’s fortune is now estimated at $6.8 billion, placing him 18th on the Forbes list of the richest people in Russia.

In Monaco, Rybolovlev acquired the princely football club in 2011. Everyone thought that in order to get legalized, become one of the people in Monte Carlo and earn the favor of Prince Albert, a great sports fan. And Rybolovlev unexpectedly, in just three years, turned a loss-making second league team into a money-making machine.

Selling Mbappe or how does Monaco make money?

Monaco has become keen on buying up young football players, training them and bringing them to the top level, so that they can then resell them to monster clubs like PSG, Chelsea and Manchester United. The Monegasques made 500 million euros on this! This is very, very cool.

The list of Monaco's most successful deals is impressive.

They bought 17-year-old Anthony Martial from Lyon for only 5 million euros, and two years later they sold him to Manchester United for 60 million euros.

Bernardo Silva was bought from Benfica for 15.8 million euros, and then sold to Man City for 50 million euros.

Benjamin Mendy was bought for 12 million euros from Marseille, and sold to the same Man City for 57 million euros.

Timue Bakayoko was acquired from Rennes for 8 million euros, and three years later he was added to Chelsea for 45 million euros.

Golovin was one of the three main discoveries of the 2018 World Cup

The 22-year-old midfielder of the Russian national team played a key role in the victory of the Russian national team over the Spanish team in the 1/8 finals match

On the occasion of the purchase of Parma by a businessman from Russia, SE remembers all the Russian owners of British, French, Italian, Swiss and Australian football clubs.

Businessman: Roman ABRAMOVICH

State: 9.1 billion dollars (14th place in the Russian Forbes ranking).

Club: Chelsea (controlling stake).

Champion of England (2004/05, 2005/06, 2009/10), FA Cup winner (2006/07, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2011/12), League Cup winner (2004/05, 2006/07), winner of the FA Super Cup (2005, 2009), winner of the Champions League (2011/12), winner of the UEFA Cup (2012/13)

Falling global metal prices in recent years have reduced Abramovich's wealth, but not his passion for sport. An aggressive policy to purchase the best players on the planet (the total expenses of the ex-governor of Chukotka on the club exceeded $1.5 billion) turned Chelsea into a leader in English and European football. Moreover, it has finally and irrevocably transformed the ball game into an independent business adventure with several mandatory attributes: an almost uncontrollable transfer policy, multimillion-dollar star contracts, global marketing and a dubious prospect of profit for those who pay for it all.

Photo by AFP

A new era for Chelsea began on July 2, 2003: BBC 5Live began its sports news with the news that Russian businessman Roman Abr A Movich (with emphasis on the second syllable) purchased the London club Chelsea for 140 million pounds. The oligarch undertook to cover the Blues' 80 million debts, and paid 59.3 million pounds directly for the purchase itself and received a controlling stake in the company that owns the football club. That same summer, Chelsea spent over £100 million on new players, but that was just the beginning. Later, the team was joined by Didier Drogba, Andrey Shevchenko, Fernando Torres, Eden Hazard and several dozen other famous football players from around the world.

Businessman: Vladimir ROMANOV

State: ?

Club: Hearts (51 percent shares).

Titles under Russian owner: Scottish Cup (2005/06, 2011/12).

Photo by AFP

The Russian-Lithuanian businessman at Hearts was accepted by the team's fans as a savior. In the fall of 2004, the Scottish club was on the verge of bankruptcy (with debts of more than 20 million pounds), and the football community had before its eyes a fresh and quite successful example of the transformation of another unprofitable British club, Chelsea, under the leadership of Russian capital. At first, Romanov also did not spare money for the team (adjusted for the more modest financial needs of Hearts, the businessman spent more than 60 million pounds). However, the euphoria quickly gave way to a series of scandals (Romanov turned out to be a tyrant and a big fan of interfering in the training process, as well as giving advice to the coach), new financial difficulties, and delays in paying salaries. Romanov himself also had problems: first, he lost all his assets, which was associated with the collapse of the Lithuanian bank Ukio bankas; at the beginning of 2014, he sold a controlling stake in the club after Hearts was transferred under external management, and then ended up in jail.

Businessman: David TRACTOVENKO

State: ?

Club:"Sydney" (90 percent shares).

Titles under Russian owner: champion of Australia (2009/10), winner of the A-League final series (2006, 2010).

Traktovenko became the owner of 22 percent of the shares of the Australian club back in 2006, and in May 2012 he increased his stake to 90 percent. Thus, the former head of the board of directors of St. Petersburg Zenit is currently the majority shareholder of Sydney. Despite successful performances in the local league, the club's financial situation leaves much to be desired: in the first 7 years of its existence (Sydney was founded in 2004), it suffered losses of $20 million.

Photo: dailytelegraph.com.au

One of Traktovenko’s commercial successes can be considered the invitation to the club of the Italian football star - veteran Alessandro Del Piero. This fact significantly increased the number of mentions of “Sydney” in the feeds of world news agencies, and also opened up new markets for Traktovenko’s football business.

Businessman: Alisher USMANOV

State: 18.6 billion dollars (1st place in the Russian Forbes rating).

Club: Arsenal (30.2 percent of the club's shares).

FA Cup (2013/14), Super Cup (2014).

Usmanov's investment company Red & White Securities (RWS) acquired a 14.6 percent stake in Arsenal back in 2007 for £75 million. The London club at that time needed to raise additional funds for the construction of a new stadium (another investor who invested in the shares was Stan Kroenke, an American billionaire and co-owner of sports teams in the USA). Usmanov and his partner Farhad Moshiri will later say that they were offered to buy another capital club, Tottenham. Negotiations were also held with Liverpool, but in fact they were choosing between Manchester United, of which Moshiri is a fan, and Arsenal, which the Russian billionaire has sympathized with over the past years.

Photo telegraph.co.uk

Over the next few years, Usmanov's company increased its share of shares by more than 15 percent, but Kroenke remains the real owner of Arsenal (62.89 percent of shares). This, however, does not prevent businessmen from taking turns criticizing the long-time coach of the Gunners, Arsene Wenger, reproaching him either for the lack of significant titles or for his unclear policy in the transfer market.

Businessman: Yuri KORABLIN

State: ?

Club:"Venice" (controlling stake).

Titles under Russian owner: No.

Photo of FC "Venezia"

In February 2011, the former mayor of Khimki near Moscow, Yuri Korablin, was included in the list of Russian businessmen who acquired their own foreign football clubs. The new asset was Venice, which played in the Italian Serie D and experienced three bankruptcies over the past eight years. The club did not experience serious financial problems (debts - no more than 400 thousand euros), but did not have solid ground under its feet (in the case of Venice - literally and figuratively) to return to the elite of Italian football. Korablin promised “not to pump hundreds of millions of euros” into his new project and, among other priorities, planned to improve the infrastructure of Venice. The old municipal stadium, where the team plays home matches, is hopelessly outdated, and back in 2012 Korablin announced the construction of a new arena in the suburbs of Venice for 70 million euros (from personal funds). Additional seats may be useful to the club in the coming years: “Venezia” plays in Lega Pro (Group A) and claims to qualify for Serie B.

Businessman: Bulat CHAGAEV

State: ?

Club: Xamax (controlling stake).

Titles under Russian owner: No.

Another criminal story involving a Russian football asset happened in Switzerland: the vice-president of the Grozny football club Terek, Bulat Chagaev, acquired Xamax from the city of Neuchâtel in May 2011. A businessman who owned a construction company in the country of banks and chocolate and had interests in the real estate market bought a controlling stake from the Bernasconi business group. In his communiqué, he said he was happy to lead the team to victories at the national level and "unthinkable" success in Europe, including the Champions League.

Photo of FC "Xamax"

How did the loud promises turn out? A month after the purchase, the businessman publicly spoke out about the need to give the club a Chechen name - “Xamax-Vainakh” (this was followed by a loud scandal and public condemnation). And just six months later, Chagaev’s project suffered a complete collapse - its owner was arrested by the police on a warrant from the prosecutor of the canton of Geneva. This happened after the football club, deprived of its license, announced on its official website that it had begun bankruptcy proceedings and released all players from contractual obligations. As a result, Xamax found itself in the third strongest division of the Swiss championship.

Businessman: Vladimir ANTONOV

State: ?

Club:"Portsmouth" (controlling stake).

Titles under Russian owner: No.

Financial problems in 2010 made Portsmouth, previously owned by Russian-speaking businessman Alexander Gaydamak and UAE's Suleiman Al-Fahim, the first bankrupt club in Premier League history (with a debt of £135 million). The team from Hampshire came under external management and was removed from it only after financial guarantees from Converse Sports Initiatives, led by Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov.

In June 2011, CSI acquired the then Championship League club from Sports Holdings (Asia) Ltd after several months of negotiations. Portsmouth did not hide their optimism. "I'm confident that at CSI we found owners with a long shot.", said Portsmouth chief executive David Lampitt.

Photo: Portsmouth FC

The new owner passed the English Football League's integrity test, but in November Antonov had problems with the law (in Lithuania he was suspected of financial fraud). The matter ended with the fact that just six months later the businessman was forced to leave the club along with his capital, and on April 10, 2013, Portsmouth officially passed into the hands of the Portsmouth Supporters Trust fan association. The transaction amount was 3 million pounds sterling.

Businessman: Maxim DEMIN

State: ?

Club: Bournemouth (50 percent shares).

Titles under Russian co-owner: No.

Photo: bournemouthecho.co.uk

The deal to acquire the club from the third most important English division was finalized in November 2011. In an official statement posted on the club's website, Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell said he now owns only half of the shares, while the remaining 50 percent belongs to his Russian partner Maxim Demin. The arrival of the Russian co-owner is associated with the main success in the history of the provincial English club - access to the championship, where the team currently lives, without hiding its ambitions to get into the Premier League. An interesting fact: in order to avoid relegation from the third division, Demin once spent a club record 1.65 million pounds sterling on transfers.

Businessman: Dmitry RYBOLOLVEV

State: 8.8 billion dollars (17th place in the Russian Forbes ranking).

Club: Monaco (66.67 percent of shares).

Titles under Russian owner: No.

Monaco Sport Invest (MSI), controlled by billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, reached an agreement in December 2011 to acquire a controlling stake in the once formidable Monaco, which at that time played in Ligue 2. MSI received almost 66.7 percent of the club's shares, the local Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club remained the owner of the other 33 percent. The official club communiqué reported that Rybolovlev’s structure undertakes to invest at least 100 million in the development of Monaco over the next four years.

Photo: Monaco FC

After a season and a half, Monaco returned to the elite of French football, becoming one of the main newsmakers of the 2013 summer transfer window. Rybolovlev invested more than 100 million euros to buy stars and stars: Radamel Falcao, James Rodriguez, Joao Moutinho, Ricardo Carvalho, Jeremy Toulalan, Eric Abidal and many others. In the 2013/14 season, Monaco won second place in Ligue 1 and returned to the Champions League, but last summer the club parted ways with some of its leaders, and on September 3, a message was published in the press about a change in the club's strategy.

What is the reason for the sharp change in the vector of development? Several versions were voiced in the media: the club is obliged to pay 50 million euros for two seasons of playing in Ligue 1 (the fine should compensate for Monaco's tax benefits over other clubs - these are the features of French legislation); Rybolovlev’s financial problems related to some non-football assets, as well as, according to rumors, cool relations between the businessman and Prince Albert II of Monaco, which could even result in the sale of the club. Be that as it may, in October, representatives of Monaco officially denied information about Rybolovlev’s withdrawal from the project.

Businessman: Anton ZINGAREVICH

State: ?

Club: Reading (51 percent shares).

Titles under Russian owner: No.

The deal between Anton Zingarevich (the son and, accordingly, nephew of the co-owners of the timber company Ilim Group, Boris and Mikhail Zingarevich) and Reading became known in the winter of 2012, but it was officially completed by the end of May (its amount, according to various sources, was 13 -16 million pounds sterling). Thames Sports Investment, which is controlled by a Russian businessman, acquired a 51 percent stake in the club after receiving permission from the Premier League. Reading returned to the elite of English football after a four-year absence, found a new owner and made far-reaching plans: " We are entering a bright new era", said a message on the club website on the day the purchase was completed.

Photo by AFP

But the reality turned out to be different. At the end of the season, Reading, whose roster was joined by Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, took 19th place and left the Premier League. The club also encountered financial problems. The purchase transaction was supposed to be completed in two stages: the first took place in May 2012, the second was planned for September 2013 (TSI was supposed to buy the remaining 49 percent stake), but it never took place. Income also decreased, mainly due to lower royalties from the sale of TV rights, but debts only grew. Already in the spring of 2014, Zingarevich was ready to sell the club for a symbolic 1 pound, provided that the new owner paid off 38 million debts. In September, a buyer was finally found, and the controlling stake went to three Thai businessmen: 50, 25 and 25 percent of the share each.

The former owner of the Uralkali company, billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, bought the Monaco football club. Information about this was disseminated by the club's press service.

According to the publication monacomatin.mc, under the terms of the deal, Dmitry Rybolovlev will invest €100 million in the development of the club over four years.

According to the terms of the agreement, 66.67% of the shares of the Monaco football club are transferred to the control of MSI, a company owned by Rybolovlev. The owner of 33% of the club's shares remains the Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club (AS Monaco FC), representing the interests of the government of the Principality of Monaco.

How, information that Rybolovlev was buying FC Monaco appeared in the French press at the end of November. However, then the billionaire denied his interest in the team.

But in early December, newspapers reported that Rybolovlev met with Prince Albert II of Monaco to specifically discuss the deal to buy the club.

The new board of directors of Monaco included Dmitry Rybolovlev himself and his daughter, Ekaterina Rybolovleva. According to the club's new owner, he sees the acquisition of the club "not as a sale and purchase transaction, but as the beginning of an effective partnership for the development" of Monaco.

“I am a long-time football fan. Having lived in Monaco for quite a long time, I understand that the Monaco football club is not just one of the country’s sports teams, it is one of the main symbols of the Principality, it is its pride and its traditions. I believe the club has great potential. And I hope that the club will be able to fully implement it in the French and European football arenas,” RIA Novosti quotes the statement of the new owner.

In turn, Prince Albert II of Monaco noted that Monaco, faced with financial difficulties, “had to find a first-class partner to ensure successful development.” “The concluded agreement opens a new page in the history of the club, so dear to our principality. “I wish the team to return to the heights that in the past made it one of the pearls of Monaco’s sporting life,” said Albert II.

Monaco Football Club is one of the oldest teams in Europe. It was founded back in 1919. The club plays in the French football championship and represents Monaco on the international stage. The club became the champion of France seven times, but did not achieve any significant success in the international arena. And at the end of the 2010-2011 season, the club was completely relegated to the Second League, taking 18th place.

For a long time he was the main owner of the Uralkali enterprise, the largest Russian producer of potash fertilizers. But in June last year he sold the company to the head of Nafta Moscow Suleiman Kerimov, as well as Filaret Galchev and Alexander Nesis. After the deal, Rybolovlev’s share in Uralkali was reduced to 10%.

Rybolovlev is included in the list of the 200 richest Russians according to Forbes - in 2011, the magazine estimated his fortune at $9.5 billion. He is also the seventh richest resident of Switzerland, where he has lived since 1995. Rybolovlev currently lives in Monaco.

Whose fortune is estimated at $9.5 billion, will become the owner of the Monaco football club this year. For a team with a glorious history, currently occupying last place in the second division of the French championship, the transition to the control of Mr. Rybolovlev is a chance to return to the football elite. And for a businessman - an opportunity to stake out a place in Europe.

The news that the former head of Uralkali Dmitry Rybolovlev will become the majority shareholder of the French team Monaco was yesterday told to the authoritative publication L'Equipe by the club's president Etienne France. “We expect that everything will be decided by the end of the year. Mr. Rybolovlev will become the new owner of Monaco. This is good news - both for us and for French football in general,” said the football functionary. Earlier, the publication reported that Dmitry Rybolovlev met with Prince Albert II of Monaco on Monday and discussed the prospects of the team, which is facing bankruptcy. In addition, according to L`Equipe, Mr. Rybolovlev was part of the club’s delegation, which reported to the French financial police on Tuesday.

Dmitry Rybolovlev was not available for comment yesterday, but it was previously reported that the Russian billionaire, whose fortune Forbes estimates it at $9.5 billion(93rd place in the world ranking), is ready to invest about €200 million in Monaco to pay off the club’s debts. A month ago, Mr. Rybolovlev resolutely denied this information.

According to L'Equipe, Dmitry Rybolovlev's first personnel decisions will be the appointment of the famous former footballer of the French national team, world and European champion Youri Djorkaeff to the post of sports director and the approval of a promising specialist - 35-year-old Marcelo Gallardo, as head coach, who in the first year work led the Uruguayan Nacional to the title of national champion.

The enthusiasm with which Mr. Rybolovlev was greeted in Monaco is easy to explain. One of the most titled French clubs is now eking out a miserable existence: the seven-time national champion, finalist of the 2004 Champions League, was relegated from the top French division in 2011 and now, after 16 rounds, occupies last place in the second most important league. The team has won only one match and has a goal difference of minus 13, trailing the leader, Clermont, by 22 points.

If Dmitry Rybolovlev does complete the deal to acquire Monaco, he will become the second prominent representative of Russian business to invest in this club. For the last ten years, the title sponsor of Monaco has been Fedcominvest, a company controlled by the entrepreneur Alexey Fedorychev.

By buying a foreign club, Dmitry Rybolovlev follows a fashionable trend among Russian entrepreneurs. The first full owner of a European team was Roman Abramovich in 2003, who received control of Chelsea for £140 million and has since invested more than £600 million in the team. In 2007, co-owner of the Metalloinvest holding Alisher Usmanov bought a 14.5% stake in another London club, Arsenal, for £75 million; by the summer of 2011, he increased his share to almost 30%. In June 2011, the head of Converse Group Vladimir Antonov purchased the English football club Portsmouth for £17 million, while taking on its debts - £70 million. A couple of months later, the English third division football club Bournemouth announced that it had acquired 50% of its shares for £850 thousand . was bought by the co-owner of Zenit Bank Maxim Demin. And in February of this year, the former mayor of Khimki, Yuri Korablin, acquired Venice, an Italian lower division team, which became the first Italian club to come under the control of a foreign owner.

Famous sports expert Nikolay Grammatikov explained the desire of Russian entrepreneurs to buy foreign clubs by their desire to “integrate into the foreign community.” “This is an attempt to generate support from the population in the territory where the businessman plans to live in the future. It is also symptomatic that domestic entrepreneurs are trying to acquire transparent European clubs, rather than Russian ones that play in the dark. Moreover, almost all of our clubs are unprofitable from a financial point of view “unattractive,” Mr. Grammatikov told Kommersant.

Rybolovlev Dmitry Evgenievich

Private bussiness

Not a good penthouse for Rybolovlev

Bozena Rynska

[...] Careful collection and processing of intelligence data showed that Mr. Rybolovlev actually bought property owned by the Safra family, only not Villa Leopolda in Villefranche, and the Belle Epoque penthouse in Monaco at number 505 Boulevard Ostend. The building looks directly onto the port of Hercule, but underneath there is a noisy road along which buses run. The acquisition greatly surprised the Russian-speaking residents of Monaco: the apartment was “not good”, with “heavy karma.” In this penthouse, its owner, one of the richest people on the planet, a banker, was killed Edmond Safra.

The prominent Jewish banker Safra was a character in an almost Shakespearean tragedy. He had billions, but did not have his own children. “My banks are my children,” said Safra. He married late, after forty. His wife Lily, judging by the track record of rich husbands, was a professional golddigger back in the days when such a term did not exist. The wife divided and conquered: she immediately quarreled Safra with her brothers and completely separated him from the rest of the clan. For most of his life, Edmond Safra was paranoid about persecution: his two-story penthouse was guarded by veterans of the Israeli counter-terrorism services. All doors (from the entrance to the toilet door) were locked with electronic combination locks. The walls and roof were super armored and could withstand a direct hit from a shell.

Despite unprecedented precautions, Safra was still killed. Moreover, according to the official version, he died rather absurdly. As Newsweek magazine wrote, Safra did not have to die at all. His stepdaughter, the daughter of his wife Lily, brought a nurse to him (Edmond Safra suffered from Parkinson's disease). The crazy nurse decided to curry favor, stage a robbery and save the owner from it. Safra took refuge in the bathroom. At this time, the nurse set fire to the trash can. Debris was burning near the vent. Both the arriving police and Lily’s wife tried to persuade Safra over the phone to come out of hiding, but the banker didn’t believe it and decided that the killers were forcing his wife to lure him out. And so he died, suffocated by smoke.

Safra's penthouse stood empty for some time. Then the Candy & Candy company took over it. The developer brothers completely reconstructed the apartment. The total area of ​​the penthouse is 1600 sq. m. m. There is a cinema hall, a two-story library, terraces, and even a SPA.

We do not have exact information whether Candy & Candy bought the apartment from Safra’s widow or simply rebuilt it according to her order, but local residents claim that they bought the penthouse. And Mr. Rybolovlev did not purchase it directly from Lily Safra, but from Candy & Candy.

Mr. Rybolovlev’s press service refused to comment on this information. It is usually very difficult to prove such purchases: as a rule, such real estate is not purchased on one’s own account. As they say in Monaco, this penthouse is not designed for Mr. Rybolovlev, but for his daughter. No one can accurately determine the purchase price. Foreigners close to the Candy & Candy company say £186 million was paid for Safra's penthouse. Russian-speaking inhabitants of the principality call the figure 240 million euros. According to some sources, this is a direct sale. More knowledgeable people say that in Monaco real estate of this class is not sold at all and this is not a direct purchase, but a leasehold - a very long-term lease. If the last assumption is correct, then Mr. Rybolovlev spent tens of millions for the right to live in this apartment for 99 years.

The version that Dmitry Rybolovlev purchased the penthouse is also supported by the fact that the oligarch is actively integrating into the Monegasque elite. This year, he and supermodel Tatiana Diaghileva were spotted at the traditional Red Cross ball (Croix Rouge), which is given annually by Prince Albert.