Ilya Sherbovich

Ilya Sherbovich is the Russian entrepreneur and the President of United Capital Partners (UCP), one of the largest asset management companies in Russia. Ilya occupied 111th position in the 2017 Forbes rating of 200 richest Russian businessmen with an estimated wealth size of $950 million.

Ilya was born in Vladimir, Russia, in December 1974. He graduated from the Plekhanov Economics University.

During his second year of education he started his career at the International Financial Corporation, investing the World Bank’s funds into developing countries. The following year he joined the Federal Commission for the Securities Market. And the year before he graduated, Ilya joined United Financial Group (UFG), the brokerage firm founded in 1994 by the former Russian Vice President and Minister of Finance, Boris Fedorov, and the American banker Charles Ryan, former senior manager of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In May 1998, after 3 years at UFG Ilya became a co-owner of the firm. At the age of 28 Ilya was appointed President of UFG. Under the leadership of Sherbovich UFG became the leading investment company in Russia.

In early 2000s UFG was engaged in disputes over corporate governance at Gazprom and acted as an advocate of minority shareholders’ rights. Such shareholder activism inevitably has led to litigation and intense media speculation. But when the new management team took over Gazprom, Sherbovich was invited to be a consultant to gas monopoly. In 2000 Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, invited Ilya Sherbovich to join their Supervisory board.

In 2003, Deutsche Bank (DB) acquired 40% of UFG with an option to buy another 60%. This option was exercised in 2006. Sherbovich remained President of the newly formed Deutsche UFG joint venture. During his presidency the bank held leading positions in the Russian M&A market and equity capital markets. When UFG was fully sold to a subsidiary of DB in 2006, Sherbovich was the third largest shareholder of the firm with a 20% stake.

In 2006, Ilya sold his shares in UFG and founded his own company, UCP, now one of the most successful investment companies in Russia. UCP’s portfolio includes assets across a wide range of industries with a total value estimated at $3.5 billion.

In 2012 and 2013, Sherbovich served as an Independent Director on the Board of directors of Rosneft, Transneft, the Russian Federal Grid Company and Uralmash Oil and Gas Equipment.