Of all the trophy assets owned by Russia-linked billionaires in the UK, one has always stood out: Chelsea football club. On Thursday, ownership of the London club was officially frozen after the designation of Roman Abramovich for UK sanctions.
Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, lawyers for Abramovich had strenuously insisted that he did not fit the criteria for sanctions, but the UK has now become the first of the Nato allies to impose sanctions on him.
Of all the people alleged by the UK government to have links to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, Abramovich had perhaps the closest affiliation with the UK. However, an MP last week claimed in the Commons that he was starting a fire sale of UK properties, as well as seeking to offload Chelsea for as much as £4bn.
As well as Chelsea, Abramovich owns a stake in the steel company Evraz and Norilsk Nickel, also known as Nornickel, both of which had shares listed on the London Stock Exchange that are now suspended. The UK government cited Forbes’ estimate of his net worth at £9.4bn, and said he was “one of the few oligarchs from the 1990s to maintain prominence under Putin”.
His UK property reportedly includes a 15-bedroom mansion on Kensington Palace Gardens in central London that was bought for £90m in 2009, and a Chelsea penthouse overlooking the River Thames bought in 2018 for a reported £22m.
Yet he also has assets that are beyond the reach of British officials. Château de la Croë, a sprawling villa on France’s Mediterranean coast once owned by British royals, is thought to be worth €100m.
Abramovich owns one of the world’s biggest superyachts, the 140m Solaris, which can reportedly host 36 guests. Its value has been estimated at $600m by the website SuperYachtFan.
The yacht left Barcelona on Tuesday, and was sailing off the south coast of Sicily on Thursday morning, according to the ship-tracking website Marine Traffic. A spokesperson for Abramovich previously told Reuters: “We never comment on the movements of the yacht or any other vehicles or vessels.”
The billionaire has also been linked to an older but even larger yacht, the 162m Eclipse.
For faster travel, Abramovich is also thought to own a private jet. Forbes Russia last year reported that Abramovich had spent $350m on a new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. The 787 is more usually used by airlines as a twin-aisle passenger jet to carry up to 300 people, but Forbes said that Abramovich’s version was reduced to about 30 passengers travelling in luxury, along with 20 staff.
The plane linked to Abramovich flew from Moscow to Dubai and back again on 4 March, according to FlightRadar24, a tracking website.
The sanctions mean Abramovich will be unable to sell any shares in Evraz, a steel company incorporated in London but with mostly Russian assets.
Its share price slumped by as much as 13% on Thursday morning after the announcement of sanctions, before financial regulators ordered trading to be suspended to await clarification on sanctions. Abramovich’s stake was worth £1.4bn at the end of 2021, but had slumped to £320m on Wednesday evening.
The London Stock Exchange suspended trading in Norilsk Nickel on Thursday last week, along with 26 other companies with strong links to Russia. A further eight firms were suspended the next day for having similar ties.
Abramovich was approached for comment. Evraz was also approached for comment.
