Gutseriyev clan overtakes Rotenbergs as richest dynasty

Oil  billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev, his brothers Said-Salam and Khamzat and nephew Mikhail Shishkhanov have overtaken Arkady and Boris Rotenberg as Russia’s richest family, according to Forbes Russia. The Rotenberg family fortunes have dropped from $5.55bn to $2.95bn over the past year as its senior members have felt the effect of the sanctions imposed by the US because of their close connections to President Putin.
Gutseriev founded the BIN Group in 1993 and  built his  oil fortunes on the back of  loans secured from  Glencore more than a decade ago. He recently announced that he has also secured loans from China to fund a new potash mine in Belarus which he expects to start production in 2020. China is the world’s biggest consumer of the crop nutrient and is looking for the new mine to supply it with up to 1.8 million metric tons a year.