To try it out: there was a bidder for the purchase of Yuzhuralzolot
There was a contender for the YUGK company (Yuzhuralzoloto), which became state property in August. The structures of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UGMK) are negotiating the purchase of a controlling stake in the gold miner from the Federal Property Management Agency, three sources told Izvestia. It was withdrawn to the state's income from billionaire Konstantin Strukov by a court decision. The perimeter of the deal, in addition to the controlling stake in YUGK, will also include other assets previously owned by the Chelyabinsk businessman. The cost can range from 50 to 100 billion rubles. In general, treasury revenues from privatization by July were five times higher than the annual plan — the budget has already received 27.5 billion rubles. Which enterprises have been privatized and how many are in line — in the Izvestia article.
Who can get Yuzhuralzoloto
The controlling stake in Yuzhuralzolot, previously owned by billionaire Konstantin Strukov, may be sold to Atlas Mining, a company associated with Jahangir Makhmudov, the son of Iskandar Makhmudov, the founder of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company. This was reported to Izvestia by a source close to the board of directors of YUGK, and confirmed by a senior federal official. Izvestia's source in one of the major metallurgical companies also knows that negotiations are underway between UMMC and the Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for the sale of the state-owned stake in YUGK.
At the moment, the Federal Property Management Agency is evaluating the company, a representative of the Ministry of Finance told Izvestia. After it is completed, the Ministry of Finance will begin the implementation procedure. Decisions on the implementation of significant transactions will be disclosed in a timely manner in accordance with the established procedure, he added.
A YUGK representative declined to comment. Izvestia sent a request to the Federal Property Management Agency. The UMMC did not respond to the editorial board's questions.
The perimeter of the deal, in addition to gold mining assets, will also include the MelTEK coal enterprise in the Kemerovo region (revenue in 2024 according to RAS 14.8 billion rubles), real estate, in particular, the Chelyabinsk City skyscraper with an area of 30.8 thousand square meters, as well as an elite golf club in Chelyabinsk, previously owned by Konstantin. Strukov, said a source close to the gold miner's board of directors. The sale of the asset, according to him, will take place at a discount. The Ministry of Finance intends to implement the deal by the end of this year through direct sale, the federal official added.
Currently, the ministry and the mining and metallurgical company are trying to negotiate a price for which the company will be able to acquire a controlling stake in YUGK, said a source close to Izvestia's board of directors. According to him, the ministry is not ready to sell the asset "for less than 100 billion rubles." At the same time, UMMC wants to acquire a stake for no more than 50 billion rubles, he said. The compromise value of the package may amount to about 75 billion, the Izvestia interlocutor believes.
Konstantin Strukov, President of PJSC Yuzhuralzoloto Group of Companies (YUGK)
On September 18, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev estimated the market value of the state-owned package at 85 billion rubles at the Moscow Financial Forum. At the close of trading on the Moscow Stock Exchange on September 30, the market capitalization of YUGK was 127.9 billion rubles, respectively, the value of the state—owned stake was 86.78 billion rubles.
The Finance Ministry admitted that the state could sell a controlling stake in YUGK to a large minority shareholder of the company, but did not specify who it was talking about. The only such shareholder is Gazprombank, which acquired 22% of YUGK from Konstantin Strukov in 2024. At the same time, GPB does not intend to increase its share in the company's capital, says an interlocutor of Izvestia, who is close to the gold miner's board of directors.
Gazprombank and the AAA Capital Management management company, which holds shares in YUGK in the interests of GPB, did not respond to Izvestia's inquiries.
Yuzhuralzoloto Group of Companies (YUGK) is one of the largest gold miners in Russia. The main assets are located in the Chelyabinsk Region, Khakassia and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The company produces ore gold at several deposits, including Svetlinskoye, Kochkarskoye and Kommunarovskoye, and is also developing new projects such as the Vysokoye Mining and Processing Complex. The resources of YUGK according to the MI&I/JORC classifications are estimated at about 40-46 million troy ounces of gold equivalent. There are enough of them to be mined for at least 30 years, YUGK estimated. According to its own data, Yuzhuralzoloto ranks second in terms of gold resources in Russia and fourth in terms of production.
In November 2023, YUGK conducted an IPO (initial public offering) and was able to raise about 7 billion rubles. In 2024, the company conducted an SPO (secondary placement) and raised about 8 billion more.
The office of the Yuzhuralzoloto company in Moscow
By the end of 2024, revenue amounted to 75.9 billion rubles, which is 12% more than in 2023, according to the company's IFRS statements. Adjusted EBITDA (which reflects the company's earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation) increased by 11% over the same period, to 34.4 billion rubles, and net profit increased by 12 times, to 8.84 billion rubles, according to the financial statements.
How SGK passed to the state
In July 2025, the Prosecutor General's Office filed a lawsuit to invalidate the transfer of a number of assets to YUGK, pointing to violations during the privatization and consolidation of the company by its beneficiary. According to the supervisory authority, Konstantin Strukov violated the ban on combining public service with business. Since 2000, he has been a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk region, since 2017 he has served as vice speaker and was a member of the local committee on Ecology and Nature Management. He used the status of deputy speaker to build and maintain informal relations with government officials in order to patronize him and his commercial enterprises, the Prosecutor General's Office claimed.
On July 11, 2025, the Soviet Court of Chelyabinsk satisfied the requirements of the supervisory authority. The shares of YUGK were converted into state revenue, and the functions of the shareholder were transferred to the Federal Property Management Agency. At the time of the transfer of the company to state ownership, Konstantin Strukov owned 67.8% of the company, another 22% was owned by AAA Capital Management (owned by Gazprombank), the remaining 10.2% of the shares were in free circulation.
Which companies were transferred to state ownership
Since 2022, the conversion of assets into state revenue in Russia has become a noticeable trend. The volume of enterprises transferred to state management during this period reached 3.9 trillion rubles, the NSP law office estimated. Among the largest precedents is the appeal in favor of the state by Glavproduct in March 2025 (it produces stew, pates, sprats, etc.) and the Moscow Domodedovo Airport from Dmitry Kamenshchik.
In August 2023, the Prosecutor General's Office demanded that the shares of the largest methanol producer, Metafrax Chemicals, be transferred to the state, and in February 2024, the company came under the control of the Russian Chemical Holding. In addition, the Rolf automobile group was transferred to state revenue in February 2024, but in September it was bought by the president of the International Boxing Association, Umar Kremlev, for 34.8 billion rubles. In March of the same year, Russia's largest producer of pasta, Makfa, was withdrawn from state revenue.
According to the results of the first six months of 2025, the privatization of federal property brought 27.5 billion rubles to the budget, the press service of the Federal Property Management Agency told Izvestia. In total, the financial plan for the proceeds from privatization this year includes an amount five times less — 5.5 billion.
As Anton Siluanov, Finance Minister of the Russian Federation, previously noted, a number of privatization deals are planned by the end of the year, as a result of which up to 100 billion rubles will be transferred to the budget revenue side. Seven companies are planned to be privatized in 2026, and budget revenues from the sale of their shares may amount to 100-300 billion, said Deputy Minister Alexei Moiseev.
What is Atlas Mining known for?
Atlas Mining (formerly Petropavlovsk PLC) is a gold mining company controlled by the structures of a mining and metallurgical company since 2022. She owns the largest gold deposits in the Amur region — Pioneer, Malomyr, as well as the Pokrovsky Autoclave and Hydrometallurgical Combine.
In March 2022, Petropavlovsk, being a tax resident of the UK, faced the inability to pay loans due to sanctions against Gazprombank, the main creditor. The company began to miss payments, and in April, the bank demanded that Petropavlovsk repay its obligations ahead of schedule, and then transferred its claims to a new creditor, UMMC—Invest. In 2023, the company rebranded.
Atlas Mining is owned by Atlas (UMMC—Invest until 2023), its owners have not been disclosed. Two Izvestia interlocutors close to UMMC call her the beneficiary of the son of the founder of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, Jahangir Makhmudov.
By the end of 2023 (the latest available data), Atlas's revenue amounted to 6 billion rubles (an increase of 83 times year—on-year), net profit - 5.4 billion against a loss of 5.9 billion rubles a year earlier, follows from the RAS reporting.
Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company is one of the largest metallurgical holdings in Russia, it includes more than 40 enterprises in the field of mining, processing and processing of copper and zinc ores, metallurgy. She also controls a number of coal enterprises, associations under the Kuzbassrazrezugol company.
Beneficiaries are also not disclosed. Until 2022, Iskandar Makhmudov and his business partner Andrey Bokarev controlled Cyprus-based Selmareco Limited, which owned 85% of UMMC shares. In March 2022, it was reported that they had ceased to be controlling beneficiaries and resigned from the boards of directors. In a report for that year, the company named Daniyar Kamilov, the son of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, as its beneficial owner, Forbes wrote.
By the end of 2023 (the latest available data), UMMC's revenue amounted to 287.4 billion rubles, which is 4% less than in 2022, according to RAS reports. Net profit doubled over the same period, to 14.7 billion.
Prospects of UMMC and gold mining
UMMC has been showing interest in gold mining assets for many years, said Vasily Danilov, a leading analyst at Veles Capital. Until 2022, the company produced only 5-10 tons of gold, but after a series of purchases (Susumanzoloto and Petropavlovsk), it increased production in 2024 to 32.6 tons (10% of the total production of precious metals in the Russian Federation), he said.
According to the assessment of the industry magazine Gold and Technology, according to this indicator, the company ranked third after Polyus (until May 2022, it belonged to Said Kerimov, the son of Senator Suleiman Kerimov) and Highland Gold, which is owned by Vladislav Sviblov, a former top manager of the developer PIK. YUGK took the eighth place in this rating — 10.6 tons of gold (-3.9% by 2023).
If the YUGK purchase deal is implemented, UMMC's production volume may increase by more than 30%, added Tatiana Klyueva, Associate Director for Corporate Ratings at Expert RA agency. This will allow the company to become the second in the ranking of gold mining companies and increase the synergy effect, she explained. Thus, consolidation of YUGK's assets would be a natural continuation of the holding's strategy to strengthen its position in precious metals, agrees Vyacheslav Berdnikov, head of the Public Equity Analysis Department at Sovcombank.
Shares of gold miners remain an attractive investment on the Russian stock market, Tatiana Klyueva noted. This is facilitated by the record price of the precious metal, exceeding $3,800 per ounce, said Nikolay Maslikov, analyst at BCS World Investments. In conditions of geopolitical instability, gold miners act as a "safe haven" for investors, Vyacheslav Berdnikov summed up.
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