Vladimir Potanin
Vladimir Olegovich Potanin is a Russian billionaire, entrepreneur and oligarch. He acquired his wealth notably through the controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in the early to mid-1990s.
- Vladimir Potanin acquired a stake in Norilsk Nickel during Russia’s privatization in 1995; today he owns just over a third.
- Potanin used government contacts to cofound Onexim Bank, which controlled industrial behemoths, in 1993.
- The oligarch formerly owned interests in insurance, media, agriculture, engineering and oil.
- Today he has stakes in pharmaceutical company Petrovax Pharm and ski resort Rosa Khutor near Sochi.
