Introduction
Evgeny Markovich Shvidler (Russian: Евгений Маркович Швидлер, born 23 March 1964), also Eugene Shvidler, is a Russian-born oil businessman. Although not often referred to as one of that country's prominent business oligarchs (since he became a United States citizen in 1994), he nevertheless made his fortune in Russia during the privatization of Russian industry and maintains a close ongoing connection to fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich and his circle.
Biography
Shvidler was born in Ufa, Russia, into the prominent Jewish family of Soviet geologist Mark Iosifovich Shvidler. He received a degree in mathematics from the Gubkin Institute of Petrochemicals and Natural Gas and an MBA from Fordham University. Early in his career he worked for Deloitte & Touche in New York and became a U.S. citizen. He later returned to Russia, where he teamed up with Roman Abramovich to start the oil trading outfit Runicom S.A. In 1995, the men partnered to gain control of oil giant Sibneft "in an auction that some experts," according to the Irish Independent, "suspect of having been rigged"; Shvidler joined Sibneft initially as senior Vice President and served as company president from 1998 until October 2005, when Russian state energy company Gazprom acquired Sibneft. For most of his tenure, Sibneft was Russia's fastest growing oil company in terms of production, and its most profitable in terms of earnings per barrel.
Eugene Shvidler is chairman of Millhouse LLC, the investment and asset management company he shares with Abramovich and their partners.
Personal life
He is married to Zara Shvidler and has five children.
He owns the Château Thénac vineyard in France, a $37 million home in Belgravia in London, a $14.5 million home in Aspen, and the yacht Le Grand Bleu.