GOLODOVSKIY
Iakov

• 1. Early Life and First Business Endeavors
• 2. Expanding Internationally through Entrepreneurship
• 3. Building a Vertically Integrated Petrochemical Holding (SIBUR)
• 4. Conflict with Gazprom and Financial Challenges
• 5. Criminal Proceedings and Their Aftermath (2002–2003)
• 6. Renewed International Ventures (2003–2006)
• 7. RAFO Onești Acquisition and Romanian Challenges
• 8. United Petrochemical Company (UPC) Joint Venture
• 9. Current Focus: MENA Region and Cyanide Production

Iakov Goldovskiy (born February 26, 1962, in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian SSR) is an entrepreneur and proprietor of the Austrian‑based Petrochemical Holding. He earned his first degree in accounting and auditing from Odessa National Technological University (ONTU) in 1997, followed by a diploma in Economics and Law from the Russian State Social University (RSSU) in 2001. In 2004, he completed an Executive MBA at IMADEC University in Vienna. Since 1991, he has been a resident of Vienna, Austria.

Early Life and First Business Endeavors

After fulfilling his military service obligation in 1983, Goldovskiy rejoined his family, who had relocated from Kryvyi Rih to Tashkent. There, he embarked on his inaugural private ventures while enrolling at the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (TIIAME). Between 1987 and 1988, he conducted business in Uzbekistan before relocating to Moscow. By the close of the 1980s, he had founded a small manufacturing enterprise in Lyubertsy, Moscow Region, which he managed into the early 1990s.

Expanding Internationally through Entrepreneurship

In 1990, amid the burgeoning cooperative movement in Russia, Goldovskiy launched several new initiatives and partnered with Bulgarian entrepreneur Lora Vidinlieva to establish one of the USSR’s earliest foreign‑invested firms: the Soviet‑Russian‑Panamanian joint venture JV “Columbus” in Moscow. Licensed to trade over a hundred categories of goods—including oil, gas, timber, hide, and metals—JV “Columbus” quickly became a leading exporter of timber products in the early 1990s and also processed cattle leather and imported foodstuffs.

From 1992 to 1995, Goldovskiy set up multiple commercial ventures throughout the former USSR and Comecon countries. In 1992, he founded Austria’s Rosetto GmbH, active in the oil sector, and that same year launched TESTA in Grodno, Belarus—a Belarusian‑Austrian joint company with Rosetto as the principal shareholder. TESTA grew to become Europe’s largest producer of wooden Euro pallets, the first CIS‑based manufacturer certified by Deutsche Bahn, with an annual output reaching 1.2 million pallets.

In 1994, Rosetto partnered with Rosneft to act as Kazakhstan’s official agent under a Russian‑Kazakh intergovernmental agreement backed by $500 million in state guarantees. Between 1994 and 1997, the consortium processed up to 6 million tons of crude annually at Kazakh refineries, supplying fuel to agricultural clients in exchange for grain, which was then exported to markets in Europe and Asia.

Building a Vertically Integrated Petrochemical Holding (SIBUR)

In 1996, at the invitation of former Gossnab chairman Stanislav Anisimov, Goldovskiy became Deputy General Director of Roskontrakt, the state foreign‑trade corporation succeeding the Soviet supplies system. That same year he founded ZAO Gazoneftekhimicheskaya Kompaniya (GNK) under Petrochemical Holding in Russia, and, in partnership with Roskontrakt and Gazprom, co‑created OAO Gazsibcontract in Moscow (51% Gazprom, 49% affiliated with Goldovskiy).

SIBUR (Siberian‑Ural Oil and Gas Chemical Company) was established by presidential decree on March 7, 1995, with ambitions to become a leading Russian gas and petrochemicals conglomerate. After government privatization in 1998, GNK acquired SIBUR’s state stakes, and Goldovskiy spearheaded its reconstruction—consolidating key assets, erecting infrastructure, and instituting a professional management framework.

By 2001, he had unified gas processing facilities across Western Siberia and the Urals into the SIBUR Production and Technological Complex (PTC), securing control of major petrochemical plants (in some cases 100%) and investing over $900 million between 1996 and 2001. Financing was provided by institutions such as Raiffeisenbank, Gazprombank, Sberbank, and Alfa‑Bank. Under his leadership, SIBUR grew into Russia’s largest petrochemical enterprise—integrating APG and condensate processing, tire and plastic manufacturing, and fertilizer production—and was prepared for a prospective IPO with an independent, transparent corporate governance structure featuring international experts and regional authorities.

Conflict with Gazprom and Financial Challenges

In December 2000, Goldovskiy arranged a 2 billion‑ruble corporate bond issue for SIBUR with Raiffeisenbank, aiming to bolster its capital markets credibility. However, a dispute with Gazprom’s incoming management precipitated an early repayment demand, destabilizing SIBUR’s finances. To shore up liquidity, he sold a gas‑processing facility to Surgutneftegaz for $50 million, using the proceeds to support SIBUR’s recovery.

Criminal Proceedings and Their Aftermath (2002–2003)

At Gazprom’s behest, the Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal investigation on January 7, 2002, and Goldovskiy spent seven months in pre‑trial detention accused under Article 201 (“Abuse of Authority”) for diluting Gazprom’s SIBUR stake. Additional charges (conspiracy, fraud, embezzlement, unlawful asset transfer, money laundering) were ultimately dismissed, and he was convicted solely under Article 201—serving time already spent in custody. Declared politically and economically motivated, the case concluded in his full acquittal.

Under pressure, Goldovskiy ceded SIBUR shares to Gazprom but negotiated blocking stakes (25% plus one share) in SIBUR and its Ukrainian, Polish, and Hungarian subsidiaries, along with a $300 million compensation agreement—of which he received about $85 million plus interest.

Renewed International Ventures (2003–2006)

Between 2003 and 2005, Goldovskiy’s affiliated firms acquired PET‑preform production assets in Lithuania, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Russia, and elsewhere—small, high‑margin operations serving beverage manufacturers. In 2004, he built a 330 ktpa PET facility in Klaipeda, Lithuania, sold in 2007. That same year, he purchased the Korund chemical plant in Dzerzhinsk, Russia, rescuing it from financial distress through management overhaul and modernization.

His Austrian‑based Petrochemical Holding became a financing platform—backed by a roughly €1 billion Raiffeisen Bank line—to support projects across Europe and Russia. One notable success was Retal Industries, a PET preform group formerly partly owned by the EBRD; after acquiring the EBRD stake, he expanded it into a $2 billion‑turnover transnational group spanning Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

RAFO Onești Acquisition and Romanian Challenges

In 2006, Goldovskiy’s team acquired RAFO Onești refinery and petrochemical complex in Romania—a legacy Comecon‑era asset. After investing and settling about €200 million in tax arrears, Romanian authorities sought to levy similar new penalties; Goldovskiy’s legal defense won over 200 court cases. A dispute with a 1.5% minority shareholder led to a blanket asset seizure, later ruled unlawful, but which forced RAFO into bankruptcy. ICSID ultimately ruled in Goldovskiy’s favor, affirming the illegality of the seizure and awarding compensation for lost profits.

United Petrochemical Company (UPC) Joint Venture

In September 2011, Goldovskiy, AFK Sistema and ANC Bashneft formed OJSC United Petrochemical Company, with Petrochemical Holding holding a 25% interest. Aimed at creating a vertically integrated petrochemical leader by merging Bashneft’s Bashkir operations with Goldovskiy’s Dzerzhinsk assets, the $5 billion plan was halted in 2014 due to Russian government litigation over Bashneft’s privatization.

Current Focus: MENA Region and Cyanide Production

In June 2019, Goldovskiy acquired First Oil from GEM Capital but was compelled in 2022 to divest all Russian assets amid EU‑Russia sanctions over the Ukraine conflict. Today, his strategy centers on the MENA region and cyanide output for gold mining. He is developing a major chemical complex in Alexandria, Egypt—designated a free economic zone and backed by government support, including Minister Ahmed Samir. In partnership with Czech Draslovka Holding, Petrochemical Holding is investing about $160 million in the first phase of a sodium cyanide plant, projected to be the region’s largest, with up to 80% of output destined for export.