The Magnificent Ten

By Alla Borikova

According to the list of 50 richest people in the Baltic drawn by The Baltic Times newspaper, five out of ten most wealthy people in the Baltic States originated in Latvia. Anyway, so far there aren’t any billionaires in the three Baltic States.

Photo: A.F.I. Valery Kargin.

Photo: A.F.I. Viktor Krasovitsky.

Latvia’s Parex Bank owners Mr. Valery Kargin and Mr. Viktor Krasovitsky   sky are heading the list of the richest. The newspaper has estimated the fortunes of Mr. V. Kargin and Mr. V. Krasovitsky at EUR 300 million, each. Parex Bank itself, with assets of EUR 1.6 billion, now is the third largest bank in the Baltic States. Just six years ago experts of Bizness & Baltija  business newspaper put the assets of each of Parex Bank owners around USD 50 million.

                                                                                                    

Photo: A.F.I. Aivars Lembergs

Fortune of Latvia’s Ventspils port city’s mayor Mr. Aivars Lembergs, was evaluated by The Baltic Times at EUR 230 million. Mr. Lembergs has been Ventspils’ mayor, Latvia’s largest port, since 1994 and participated in management of many companies specialized in transit transport. After The Baltic Times published its list of Baltic millionaires, Lembergs told the press that the newspaper’s estimate of his wealth was wrong and it had exaggerated his fortune too much. 

Photo: P. Lileikis Nerijus Numavicius.

The list of the five richest people in the

Photo: P. Lileikis Zilvinas Marcinkevicius.

Baltic States includes also Lithuanian co-owners of the largest Baltic retailer Vilniaus Prekyba – the Numavicius family (Julius, Nerijus and Vladas) and the Marcinkevicius family (Gintaras, Mindaugas and Zilvinas), each worth EUR 200 million. The millionaires themselves claim that The Baltic Times had greatly exaggerated their wealth, and the real size of their assets was some 20 times smaller.

Other Latvians among the ten richest people in the Baltics are such businessmen as Mr. Peteris Smidre, the founder of Baltkom concern (EUR 130 mln, 6th place) and Mr. Mikhail Ulman, the president of the Mono Group (EUR 110 mln, 8th place). The Top 10 includes also Lithuania’s former Prime Minister Mr. Bronislovas Lubys, who now runs Klaipeda Stevedoring Company (EUR 110 mln), and Mr. Darius Mockus, president of the MG Baltic conglomerate (EUR 100 mln). The only Estonian representative among the ten richest people in the Baltics is a “transit businessman” Mr. Anatoly Kanaev with estimated assets of EUR 100 million.

                                                           

Photo: Kapitals. Mikhail Ulman.

                                              

Photo: A.F.I. Peteris Smidre.

The Baltic Times mentioned as well, that the number of home-grown millionaires in the Baltic states has increased dramatically during the last decade. Those who were already worth seven figures in the early 1990s have managed to tag on an extra zero or two. It should be noted, for example, that six years ago Bizness & Baltija newspaper’s experts estimated aggregate fortune of Latvia’s Top 100 millionaires at around USD 180-200 million. Today total wealth of  just ten richest people in the Baltic states can easily climb up to EUR 1.8 billion already. 

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Photo: P. Lileikis Darius Mockus.

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Photo: P. Lileikis Bronislovas Lubys

                                          

Photo: E. Prozes Anatoly Kanaev.