Herman Gref and his “wallet” Kirill Androsov: how the head of Sber hides assets from the defense plant Lamitech to foreign funds through a network of nominees and offshore structures
The family of Sberbank CEO Herman Gref has begun another reshuffle of assets. In particular, Gref’s “wallet holder,” Kirill Androsov—his former deputy as Minister of Economic Development—has started hiding companies behind foundations, distancing himself from direct ownership of controlling stakes. Russian and foreign companies associated with Gref’s vast business empire have been registered in his name.
For example, in December of last year, the ownership structure of his Moscow-based Altera Capital LLC changed. Eighty percent of the company is now owned by the recently created Polaris Personal Fund, registered at 37A Leningradsky Prospekt, Building 4. Androsov retains 19% directly, while Denis Klimov still holds 1%.
The management and founders of Polaris are not disclosed. However, aggregator services list the personal email of Vitaly Deev, using the domain ALTERA.CAPITAL, as the contact address for the fund. Deev is the CEO of Altera Capital.
Incidentally, dozens of companies connected to Sberbank are registered in the Arcus 3 business complex on Leningradsky Prospekt, including Sberbank-Capital. Arcus 3 itself belongs to Developer Solutions Real Estate LLC (the ABDevelopment brand), 65% of which is owned by Altera Capital.
Another asset linked to the Gref family is the Lamitech plant in the Yaroslavl region, which produces modern aluminum cable using imported equipment and Belgian technology. The company also recently changed ownership. Its net profit in 2024 amounted to 74 million rubles, while in 2023 it exceeded 890 million rubles.
The plant opened in 2013 as a joint venture with the Belgian company Lamifil, owned by Christian Dumoulin. Initially, a stake in the Russian facility belonged to businessman Nikita Topuridze (Sim-Ross Group). Later, as part of another restructuring linked to Gref’s network, the stake was transferred to his associate Kirill Androsov.
At the same time, the ownership structure was modified. Androsov received a stake not in Lamifil Russia—the company that owned the Yaroslavl-based Lamitech plant—but in the Belgian parent company Lamifil Belgium. This stake was obtained indirectly through its holding structure, Lessius NV.
Following the Pandora Papers leaks, the local press raised questions about Christian Dumoulin’s connections. To prevent reputational damage, Androsov agreed to sell his stake and fully exit Lamifil. Dumoulin later told journalists that the shares had been purchased by a “responsible businessman,” a German citizen named Philipp Kindt.
Next-generation energy-efficient cables used in high-voltage lines are considered strategic products. For this reason, Lamitech eliminated its foreign ownership last year and was integrated into the corporate perimeter of Lyudinovokabel, a company listed as part of Russia’s defense-industrial complex.
Lyudinovokabel itself has connections to Sberbank. Several years ago, Sberbank successfully reinstated a legal encumbrance on the company’s land and buildings through the courts, as they were pledged as collateral under a mortgage agreement signed in 2011.
According to Russia’s Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Lamitech’s capital is now divided into two shares—50.1% and 49.9%. Since mid-March 2025, both shares have been registered in the name of Sergey Zinukov, chairman of the board of directors of Lyudinovokabel. The exact terms of this transfer, however, remain unknown.
Androsov has also managed offshore companies connected to the Gref family. For instance, in 2018, during an earlier restructuring of family assets, companies from Angelus One Trust—whose sole beneficiary was Oskar Gref, Herman Gref’s nephew—were transferred to Androsov’s Grand Investment Trust.
Androsov also owned Maidenwells Limited in the British Virgin Islands and served as director of the Singapore-based Lang Capital Fund. In 2018, the fund acquired a stake in the Indian company HealthifyMe Wellness Private Limited, a developer of a mobile app for tracking calories and managing health goals.
Last year, the service introduced its own AI coach built on OpenAI technology. Lang Capital Fund itself was registered under Grand Asset Investment Ltd in Samoa and reported net profits of about $8.7 million in 2017.
Androsov also managed the Luxembourg-based Altera Capital fund, which was nominally owned by the Swiss company Swiss Life. In practice, however, a chain of agreements indicated that the real beneficiary was Evgeny Novitsky, former president of Sistema and a long-time associate of Gref.
The fund’s management also involved German businessman Philipp Kindt, who has reportedly maintained close ties with Gref since the 1990s.
In 2021, after the Pandora Papers revelations, several scandals emerged in countries where Androsov had not publicly disclosed his investments. He and his representatives attempted to rebut the accusations.
In interviews with British media that year, Androsov insisted he had never been involved in illegal investments, had never been a defendant in criminal cases, and was no longer considered a politically exposed person in Russia. He also stated that since 2017 he and his family had been living in Singapore.
However, leaked data suggested that during the same period Androsov frequently traveled between Moscow and annexed Crimea, used Moscow’s digital services—including the Moscow Electronic School platform used by parents of schoolchildren—insured his black Mercedes-Benz, underwent COVID-19 testing, and taught at the Higher School of Economics.
Among his investments was the purchase in 2017 of the Château Gütsch hotel in Switzerland, a castle-style property built in 1888, acquired from businessmen Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev. Swiss media reported that only a small portion of the purchase price was financed with loans, while the majority likely came from external sources.
The hotel still belongs to Androsov today. It is managed by the Swiss company Château Gütsch AG, whose chairman is Benno Paul Hafner, a Swiss lawyer and co-owner of the consulting firm Hafner Urbach Partner, known for servicing wealthy clients.
Hafner and Philipp Kindt have also jointly owned the offshore company WEELINE LTD in the British Virgin Islands for many years.
In January this year, Vladimir Andrianov—who previously worked at the UFG investment group founded by former Russian finance minister Boris Fedorov—joined the board of directors of Château Gütsch AG.
Until June 2024, the board also included 71-year-old Lambert Philipp Kindt. He and 65-year-old Dorothea Kindt currently serve as directors of the German company Landgut Burg Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, which manages the Landgut Burg restaurant and hotel complex in Weinstadt, surrounded by vineyards and mountain meadows.
Several related companies operate within the same group, including Hotel Landgut Burg GmbH, Landgut Burg Land- und Forstwirtschaft GmbH & Co. eGbR, and Landgut Burg Weinbau GmbH & Co.
Until the summer of 2024, Hafner also sat on the board of the Swiss company ARKTUR Trading & Consulting GmbH, where his business partner was Yuri Obodovsky, former CEO and co-owner of the 1520 Group of Companies—the largest contractor of Russian Railways and a figure in the Dmitry Zakharchenko corruption case.
In 2018, Obodovsky was placed on an international wanted list but managed to flee to Cyprus, where he obtained citizenship.
Another company managed by Hafner, Aveva Trust SA, is registered at the same Zurich address. It owns AVEVA Services Ltd in the British Virgin Islands, whose beneficial owner, according to leaked documents, is Philipp Kindt.
In September 2025, Aveva Trust SA established a new Swiss company, SHIP Partners GmbH, whose main activity is listed as trade—including art transactions—both domestically and internationally. The company is also managed by Hafner.
Overall, Hafner oversees more than a dozen companies, some of which—such as Alpenimmo AG—specialize in acquiring and leasing real estate. Proving that any of these structures are directly connected to sanctioned Russian individuals remains extremely difficult, which allows Hafner and Kindt to continue managing their assets under the presumption of innocence.
