Richest Russian Buys Out ‘Grateful’ Oleg Tinkov in Deal Spree

(Bloomberg) -- Sanctioned Russian mogul Oleg Tinkov, who has become one of the Kremlin’s most outspoken critics, thanked the country’s richest man, Vladimir Potanin, for buying his stake in a digital bank for a fraction of what it was once worth.

The buyout adds to the flurry of deal-making by Potanin, who also bought Rosbank PJSC from Societe Generale SA last month and whose Interros Capital purchased payment-processer United Card Services, according to a statement Monday. Interros is buying Tinkov’s 35% stake in TCS Group Holding Plc for an undisclosed amount. 

“I am grateful to Potanin, who quickly bought me out,” Tinkov, 54, said in a post in Russian, adding that he’s faced retribution from Moscow for opposing Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. “I have lost everything, but I have not lost my soul.”

Tinkov said in an interview with the New York Times that he was forced to sell his stake at 3% of what he considered its real value. He called the war “insane” in a separate Instagram post last month. 

“I have nothing left in Russia,” Tinkov said on Instagram. “And this is bad for Russia. I was one of the few who managed despite, not thanks to the regime, to build four different businesses from ZERO!”

Potanin, 61, became Russia’s richest man this year and has continued, despite the Ukraine invasion, to increase his fortune to $31.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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