Interview: "My longstanding dream has come true at last: I've practically finished setting of the Japanese garden"

VICTOR PINCHUK, president
Interpipe Corporation
45 years old

Victor Pinchuk mechanically will be lengthy named "a son-in-law" of the president Kuchma. This blood cognation with the Ukrainian throne is used by the opponents and allies of the Ukrainian billionaire for explanation of his prosperity reasons.

However Pinchuk, even without this tsarist title - a "son-in-law"- was and still remains the person who independently determines the weather of Ukrainian economy, the fashion in modern art, and - just slightly - the spirits in multicolored politics. Still, having been asked whether he is going to come back to politics, Pinchuk replied symmetrically, ‘To politics I'm not going to come back'. Pinchuk is steeped in business and haute art, here in silence, far of the political battles, and he feels rather comfortable at that. And this is despite the fact that as a result of the property repartition, he has lost a part of his fattest assets - a mega industrial complex "Krivorozhstal". Besides, in the fight with Igor Kolomoisky, co-owner of the Privat group, Pinchuk has narrowly managed to keep another pearl of his capital - the Nickopol ferroalloy mill. But now, the business of the Interpipe concern is in perfect security.

He owns the tube works, the metallurgic and sugar-refineries. Additionally, he has assets in the banks, insurance business and air transportation. Moreover, Pinchuk possesses one of the largest media-holdings in Ukraine, with such TV channels as ICTV, STB, Novyi Channel, M1 and Channel 11 (Dniepropetrovsk), as well as the newspaper Facty and comments.

This year the businessman has decided to invest the assets of this media pool in the international stock exchange.  According to Serghey Alexeenko, vice-president of the Renaissance Capital Company, the holding of the IPO might result in turning the media assets into the most priority ones in Pinchuk's business-empire.

During the whole period of his TV channels functioning, they have been regarded by their owner not as a business, but as a tool for political struggle, - Alexeenko says. The cost of such media-holding exceeds $500 millions. Nevertheless these are not Mr.Pinchuk's only plans on strengthening of his positions in the list of the most influential people of Ukraine.

– Your priorities for the nearest future: in business, in politics, in your philanthropic projects?

– I see the three trends in business. First, it's necessary to become really open and transparent international companies, and to enter the IPO. Secondly, it's necessary to invest intensively in the advanced technological and energy-saving projects. Only for one of such projects I plan to spend about half a billion dollars. By doing this, we'll reduce the expenses on gas by 8.5 folds per 1 ton of steel, and by 10 folds - the volumes of polluted emissions. Third, we're carefully exploring the possibilities for investing in the science intensive innovative spheres through our own venture funds or through the partnership participation in the already operating ones.

This year there has been established the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, which consolidated all my charitable programs of many years and some new ones. We've defined three key directions for the Foundation activity - health protection, education and culture. I believe, this is the most interesting investment into the future. Among the new projects, the most scaled and ambitions are: "Cradle of Hope" project, the neonatal centers network to battle the new-born infants mortality; The Kiev School of Economics; "Завтра.ua", the scholarship program for the most gifted Ukrainian students, The Center of Contemporary Art.

– You are one of the most active promoters of the idea of Ukraine's advancing towards the EU. Do you consider that under the current configuration of power this guiding line would not be shifted towards the pro-Russian side, and therefore the EU integration idea would be destroyed for the long time?

– The advance of our country toward the European Union has no alternative. Still to oppose the EU integration of Ukraine and strengthening of our ties with Russia is either slyness, or just stupidity. Ukraine has its own interests and ambitions, and some of them require rapprochement with the EC, while it's impossible (and will never be possible) to carry out the others without Russia.  Neither to the West, nor to the East, but forward and upwards.

– Tell about your main success in life, and, correspondently, your main failure.

– It's somewhat too philosophical question - and as they say, "all his life has flashed across his mind". Let me tell you about successes and failures of this year.

The first success:  my longstanding dream has come true at last: I've practically finished setting of the Japanese garden.

The second one: I've fulfilled my other longstanding dream - I've learned to dive with an aqualung. I've already dived for 35 meters. I was swimming along with the sharks and almost touching them. 

The third success: I have not come to the Verhkovna Rada.

I remember one failure: I've lost a bet (I bottle of Champaign) to my Italian friend. The bet concerned a winner of a quarter-final of the World Cup. But frankly speaking, one cannot call it a failure.  It was a success, a great one, for the first time.

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