Oleg Boyko

Oleg Boyko is the principal investor and beneficiary of Finstar Financial Group, an international diversified private equity firm with assets under management exceeding $2 billion. Oleg Boyko is an international businessman with interests spanning Europe, the US, Asia and Latin America. He currently occupies the 1561st spot in the Forbes ranking with a personal wealth estimated at $1.48 billion^[1].

Education

Oleg Boyko was born in Moscow in 1964. He was educated at the Moscow Aviation Institution, specialising in radio electronics, and subsequently gained a Master of Business Administration from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration^[2]. He worked at the Lomonosov Moscow State University between 1982 and 1986.

Business Interests

Boyko’s business interests include digital finance sector, financial services, IT, FMCG retail, media, and real estate sectors.

In 1999 Boyko was a joint investor in EvrazHolding along with Alexander Abramov, combining three steel mills and thereby creating one of the world’s largest vertically-integrated steel producers.

In 2000, Boyko and a team of professional executives formed Finstar Financial Group as an investment vehicle and management company in order to identify, invest in, and actively manage businesses on behalf of Boyko and other private investors.

The Group has 20 years of operational experience launching new projects in developing markets, restructuring existing companies to become more competitive, as well as sealing new partnerships and M&A agreements, and building greenfield start-ups.

In 2002, Boyko founded Ritzio Entertainment Group, investing in casinos and gaming, a business that expanded across Russia and internationally. In 2010, Boyko became an investor in lottery businesses in Russia and Ukraine, including the national lottery to support the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games. He has subsequently disposed of all his lottery interests^[3].

In 2003, Finstar purchased a controlling stake in a Latvian commercial bank, Baltic Trust Bank. In 2006, Finstar sold its 79% stake to GE Capital, the banking and finance arm of General Electric^[4].

In 2004, Boyko sold his 20% stake in EvrazHolding for approximately $600 to $700 million prior to its listing on the London Stock Exchange^[5].

In 2006 Boyko entered the real estate market through a new holding company, Finstroy^[6][7].

In 2006, under Boyko, Finstar acquired 75% of Russia’s second largest cosmetics and perfumery chain, Rive Gauche. In 2012, Boyko sold 51% of his stake to a consortium of investors but continues to hold 24% of the business^[8].

Finstar’s current focus is on the digital financial services and financial technology sectors, where it seeks to leverage deep technology and data science to enable global financial inclusion and improve the consumer experience^[9]

Finstar`s investment portfolio includes, among others, Spotcap^[10], an online lending platform for SMEs, Prestamos Prima^[11], an online consumer financial services provider, and Viventor^[12], a peer-to-peer lending platform.

In 2017 Oleg Boyko announced his intention to invest $150 million into fintech startups and in-house R&D within portfolio companies^[13]. The first phase of a global fintech investment plan is under way with a commitment^[14] to invest up to US$50 million in APAC`s consumer lending.

Boyko is involved in film production and served as a co-producer on Frank Miller’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For in 2014, and is a co-producer in Scarlett Johansson’s forthcoming directorial debut for the film Summer Crossing, which is based on a Truman Capote novel.^[15]

Parasport Foundation

Boyko founded the Parasport foundation in 2006, during the Paralympic Winter Games in Turin. The Foundation offers funding for Paralympic athletes to train and attend competitions and obtain physical and mental health care, and promotes equality for people with disabilities.^[16] Recently the Foundation became the official partner of the Russian Paralympic Committee, and has established a presence in Asia. In 2016, Boyko co-hosted its 10th anniversary celebration with an event in Moscow, attended by Paralympic Committee representatives from 25 countries. Since 2006 Boyko has also been the Head of the Paralympic Movement Development Committee of the Russian Paralympic Committee. He was appointed to the International Wheelchair & Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) Development Committee as a member in October 2015 following the successful funding by Parasport of the 2015 IWAS Games in Sochi^[17].

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