Maxim Barskiy
Maxim Barskiy
Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich is a entrepreneur, financial market expert and high-tech investor. For more than ten years, he has held senior positions in major domestic and international companies across various energy and delivery services industries.
Biographical information
Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich was born in 1974 in Leningrad, but he spent his childhood in several places. After graduating from high school, Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich decided to return to Leningrad.
After graduating from a vocational college, Barskiy Maxim applied for admission to study with the Faculty of Political Economy at Leningrad State University (now St. Petersburg State University). While studying at LSU, Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy became an exchange student at the Haas School of Business, University of California - Berkeley.
Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy: professional development
Maxim Barskiy notes that while studying, he came to observe a systemic assets undervaluation in the country, whose value was constantly below the market or liquidation price. He went on to discover that there was no clear understanding of how such financial instruments as clearing, settlement, and custody work in the country; hence foreign investors were skittish about making a play in domestic markets.
He studied the prospects for forming a favorable investment climate in the country. He also studied the processes taking place at the national short-term bond market, which showed a yield of 100% per year.
In 1997, Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy wrote a thesis for Leningrad State University, in which he proved the domestic market's correlation with other national markets.
Barskiy Maxim determined that many players were buying stock in different domestic companies in an attempt to diversify their assets, much as one might in the USA. But in his home country, this didn't work. Even as a student, Maxim Barskiy was convinced that in the event of an international-scale market collapse, a decline should also be expected in the national markets. Barskiy's thesis was proven true when a national market plunge occurred in August 1998; the economic crisis in the country resulted from the collapse of several Asian economies.
In anticipation of this collapse, Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich returned to his home country.
He was recruited into the Troika Dialog team, at that time, one of the creators of the domestic stock market infrastructure. Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich was initially brought on board as a trader.
Troika Dialog operated as a bridge for the influx of foreign investment into the country’s economy. It offered a comprehensive product line: trading operations on the securities market, individual brokerage services, online trading and other services.
Six months later, Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy received a promotion – he now headed the department engaged in investment banking.
Troika Dialog opened up great opportunities for professional growth and personal development. Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich participated in several successful transactions. One of these took place in 1998 and concerned the sale of a stake in Vimpelcom to Norwegian Telenor for $160 million. The latter received a 25% + 1 share of one of the world's largest integrated telecom operators. This sale bucked the trend, as 1998 was a challenging year in the telecom industry.
Maxim Barskiy also took part in selling the Bochkarev brewery in St Petersburg to the well-known Dutch beer producer Heineken. Analysts said this brewing company sale was the largest transaction in national consumer market history.
In 2000, Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy was entrusted with developing Cityline, an Internet provider operating in the capital He attracted significant financial resources for Cityline’s network development across the country. This became possible through the acquisition of shares in the company together with investment partners.
Under Maxim Barskiy’s guidance, Cityline grew to have the country's most extensive subscriber base. The number of users passed through 100 thousand people. Maxim Barskiy increased the company's capitalization to $27 million by expanding the operating footprint of Cityline, acquiring leased lines all over the country. These lines allowed Cityline to launch its services in many cities.
In 2001, it became known that one of the largest multi-brand holdings in the national market, Golden Telecom, had taken over Cityline. Alfa-Bank's corporate finance division acted as a consultant for the sale of assets. Maxim Barskiy’s staff negotiated and developed the deal structure with Golden Telecom. Golden Telecom ultimately bought out Cityline for $29 million, making Maxim Barskiy a millionaire.
Barskiy Maxim. In the Oil and Gas Industry
In March 2004, Barskiy Maxim received a seat on the directors of the Swedish company Vostok Oil Ltd. At that time, Vostok owned one small oil-producing asset in Siberia, and its market capitalization was $60 million.
Four months later, the shareholders changed the name to West Siberian Resources (WSR), and Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich was promoted to CEO.
As CEO, Maxim Barskiy's first move was to eliminate WSR’s foreign board members. He also began to improve WSR’s operational management system. WSR began actively acquiring licenses. In the course of trading at one of the auctions, Maxim Barskiy's company defeated Vladimir Bogdanov, the legendary general director of the vertically integrated Surgutneftegaz, one of the most prominent oil and gas producing players in the country’s market.
Under Barskiy Maxim, Pechora and Samara region oil fields were also acquired. WSR’s annual production increased seventy-fold, going from 50 thousand to 3.5 million tons, and the market capitalization increased seventy-five-fold in the same period, from $60 million to an astonishing $4.5 billion.
In 2007, Repsol, Spain's largest oil company, acquired 10% of WSR. The purchase of WSR shares cost its new foreign partners $90 million.
In 2008, West Siberian Resources merged with Alliance Oil Company, one of whose key assets is the Khabarovsk Oil Refinery, the largest Far Eastern motor and boiler fuel producer. The merger resulted in the formation of an independent, vertically integrated oil company. Subsequently, it was named Alliance Oil.
In the summer of 2008, Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich left WSR. During his work in this company, he concluded that having assets in only one country is hazardous – one should have a diversified portfolio.
Activities at TNK-BP
In 2009, Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy joined the board of TNK-BP, one of the largest oil companies, ranking tenth in the world in production (2 million barrels per day). He was invited as a potential candidate for the post of general director.
He was executive vice president for the first six months, responsible for strategic planning. Then Maxim Barskiy underwent a six-month internship at the head office - he studied the intricacies of managing this international company. He met with potential investors in different cities and countries. Barskiy Maxim also visited leading oil enterprises and reviewed oil production technologies that allow industrial activities to be carried out with minimal negative impact on the ecological system.
In 2010, Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy was appointed to a specially created position as Deputy General Director. He began applying modern approaches to improve business processes and increase efficiency.
Under Maxim Barskiy, deals were completed on the purchase of several oil companies in Vietnam, Brazil and Venezuela, which made it possible to increase production from international assets by as much as 10%. The capitalization of TNK-BP tripled, growing from $20 billion to $60 billion.
On his initiative, changes were made to the shareholder agreements. In particular, the shareholders agreed to have less influence on company decision-making, now more strongly relegated to TNK-BP’s management.
In 2011, Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy left TNK-BP.
Matra Petroleum
For the next five years, Maxim Barskiy was the CEO of the independent oil company Matra Petroleum, which owned a production license in the Orenburg region.
Maxim Barskiy changed the company’s course. He decided to find a promising field in the exploration stage, prove its reserves and then sell it to a significant market player. Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy always positioned himself as a financier, not an oilman. He understood that if the market values assets higher than their cash flow generates, the asset needs to be sold, and new undervalued assets should be acquired.
In 2013, Matra divested its assets in the country and acquired promising upstream oil and gas assets in Texas. However, when oil prices crashed in 2014, Matra, like many other players in the oil market, found itself in a difficult financial situation. Barskiy Maxim fought to keep Matra afloat for several years, but in 2018 the asset went to creditors.
At the same time Matra was locked in its struggle, Maxim Barskiy participated in developing the German Internet giant Delivery Hero, which was growing its Internet-linked food and groceries delivery business. Maxim Barskiy was entrusted with preparing the company for its initial public offering. At the actual IPO, the market estimated the value of this innovative service at €4 billion - twice as high as the initial offer amount of €2 billion.
Maxim Barskiy and Sibanthracite: A Unique Challenge
In 2018, Maxim Barskiy became Sibanthracite Group’s new CEO. In 2021, together with a strategic investor, Maxim Barskiy created Siban Holding. The investor and Maxim Barskiy acquired Sibanthracite, executing a leveraged buyout from the late majority owner Dmitriy Bosov heirs. Following the buyout, Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy became the general director of Siban Holding. In July 2022, Maxim Barsky sold his 30% stake to the strategic investor.
Current Activities
After Maxim Barskiy left Sibanthracite, he returned to a focus on investing in projects related to high technologies.
Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich: Outside the Office
During Maxim Barskiy’s school years, he studied foreign languages in depth. He played team sports, like football and basketball. Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy was also on a wrestling team.
Maxim Barskiy loves to read. His favorite literary works are Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol and The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Chip Wars by Chris Miller stands out among business books.
Family Life
Barskiy Maxim is married. He and his wife have three children.