Profile of Rinat Akhmetov, founder of SCM, covering his business empire, economic influence in Ukraine, wartime losses, and philanthropic efforts.
When it comes to private industry in Ukraine, SCM Company is one of the few structures whose presence is felt simultaneously in energy, metallurgy and infrastructure. The сompany's founder has been building this business since the early 2000s, and today SCM remains the largest private employer and taxpayer in the country.
Key Facts About Rinat Akhmetov:
Rinat Akhmetov is a Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist and founder and sole shareholder of System Capital Management (SCM), a leading international investment company.
The company operates in metallurgy, energy, telecommunications, banking and agribusiness, bringing together more than 250 companies worldwide, employing approximately 150,000 people in Ukraine, the United States, and Europe. The company develops large-scale projects with international partners across several global markets.
Rinat Akhmetov family comes from a working-class background in Donetsk: his father Leonid worked as a miner, and so did his older brother Igor. Akhmetov himself graduated from the economics faculty of Donetsk National University in 2001. Today more than 150,000 people are employed at SCM's enterprises, and the сompany accounts for around 10% of Ukraine's GDP.
The post-Soviet economy of the 1990s created specific conditions: privatization was chaotic, and the legal framework was only taking shape. Virtually all major Ukrainian entrepreneurs of that generation started out in this environment.
If you study Rinat Akhmetov biography not as a personal history but as a business trajectory, it reflects the logic of the era: regional industrial business, asset consolidation, entry into international markets. In 1995 Akhmetov founded Dongorbank; in 2000 he founded SCM.
More than 250 companies in Ukraine, Italy, Poland, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Moldova, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United States.
The сompany operates through vertically integrated business models: from raw material extraction to production and distribution. Key holdings include:
Each area functions as an independent operational unit, enabling strategic growth and operational efficiency.
Over 25 years, according to Forbes, SCM has invested more than 377 billion hryvnias (18.2 billion dollars) in Ukraine and paid over 725 billion hryvnias (33 billion dollars) in taxes. For many industrial cities in the east and centre of the country, the сompany's enterprises are the primary employer. Metinvest accounts for a significant share of Ukraine's steel exports, and DTEK is the largest private electricity producer. As of March 2026, Rinat Akhmetov net worth is estimated at $7.8 billion.
DTEK manages thermal power plants, distribution networks and renewable energy facilities. Since 2022, Russian forces have attacked the company's thermal power plants more than 220 times: 1,400 network facilities and 9,000 power transmission lines have been damaged.
The company invested 31 billion hryvnias in restoration — 19 billion for plant repairs and 12 billion for grid modernisation. A wind power plant is being built in southern Ukraine, and the largest energy storage system in the country is being created.
Between 2006 and 2012, Rinat Leonidovych Akhmetov was twice elected as a Member of Parliament of the Verkhovna Rada representing the Party of Regions. The period was not marked by active legislative initiatives; he declined to stand for election in 2012 and later described his political career as a mistake. Since then, he has not been active in politics.
Previously, the сompany owned media assets, including the television channel Ukraine. However, a decision was made to exit the media business, and the assets were transferred to the government. On 11 July 2022, Akhmetov announced that he would surrender licenses of top television channels to the government and shut down both print and internet media to comply with so-called “de-oligarchisation” legislation aimed at curbing the influence of oligarchs. “I made an involuntary decision that my investment company SCM will exit its media business,” Akhmetov said in a statement.
Azovstal and the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works were destroyed during the fighting for Mariupol in 2022. Lawyers estimate SCM's total losses at tens of billions of dollars. SCM invested $4 billion in infrastructure restoration. In 2023, an arbitration tribunal awarded DTEK Krymenergo $263 million for assets expropriated by Russia in Crimea.
SCM's energy and metallurgy assets are infrastructure that Ukrainian industry depends on. The сompany remains the largest private investor in the country even after colossal wartime losses.
Steel Front — an initiative that brought together all military assistance from Akhmetov's businesses for Ukraine's defenders — and Rinat Akhmetov Foundation have directed 13.5 billion hryvnias (approximately 0.6 billion dollars) since 2022 to support military personnel and civilians. This is systematic work: from the supply of drones and fortifications to veteran rehabilitation and assistance to civilians in frontline areas.
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