Abramovich of the track?

14 April 2012

He's Russia-born, a billionaire who made his fortune exploiting industrial opportunities following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and he has pledged to plough money into a famous British-based sporting name. But there ends any comparison between Alex Shnaider and Roman Abramovich.

If ever there was proof that cash can buy success on the football pitch then it is to be found in the inexorable march of Abramovich's Chelsea towards this season's Premiership title.

But what return does Shnaider expect for the minimum of £ 170million he is committing to the takeover and rebuilding of the Jordan Formula One motor racing team?

Shnaider moves comfortably in the company of western celebrity entrepreneurs - he is building Canada's tallest and most luxurious residential skyscraper with Donald Trump - and Moscow's political nobility - Boris Yeltsin Jnr, the grandson of former president Boris Yeltsin, was one of the first employees of the Grand Prix project. Despite that, he is surprisingly downbeat about his chances of carrying the fight to Ferrari.

"We expect to achieve at least one podium in the first five years," says this son of St Petersburg but now a Canadian citizen who, at 37, is one year younger than Abramovich.

That meagre statement of ambition will hardly have Michael Schumacher quaking in his racing boots.

But then Shnaider may have taken heed of Paul Stoddart, the Australian aircraft maintenance mogul whose Minardi cars are almost permanent fixtures at the back of the starting grid.

"There are no Abramovich fixes in Formula One," warned Stoddart. "Footballers are assets and you can be successful overnight.

"But Formula One has a history of new teams spending one billion dollars and still being last in the first year."

So what's in it for Shnaider? After all, if the likes of the mighty Ford car company can't cut it in F1 - they recently off-loaded their struggling Jaguar team - then surely an individual has no chance.

But, in just over 10 years, Shnaider has turned his Toronto-based Midland Group into a conglomerate with 34 offices around the world including the British Isles. His main business is conducted in Serbia, the Ukraine, Turkey, China, and the Far East with the bulk of annual revenue said to be worth over £1.5billion being derived from interests in the steel industry, shipping, construction, agriculture, real estate and energy distribution.

Like Abramovich, Shnaider's soaring climb to prosperity was provided by the disintegration of the Soviet Union. He had already worked for a trading company in the Ukraine, and when the steel mills there found they had no market for their wares, Shnaider and partner Eduard Shifrin offered themselves as salesmen.

The venture was so successful that Shnaider ended up buying the steel mills.

Such a man would surely not enter the Grand Prix pit lane without a sound motive, and he said: "I'm surprised no one has realised that having a Formula One team is like getting an NHL or NBA franchise free, as it is one of the world's most popular sports. The opportunity to create value is immense and it stuns me that there are not more companies that have identified this opportunity.

"I know of no one in Formula One who isn't making money. There are people crying, yes, but I don't know how real those tears are. And some are being shed from the decks of luxury yachts."

Shnaider, who was introduced to team owner Eddie Jordan by F1 overlord Bernie Ecclestone, intends to use his high-speed billboards to push other Midland ventures and the team will drop Jordan from its title next year.

Shnaider explained: "Midland's involvement is market driven.

"Our research showed that only three events met our criteria for international exploitation: the Olympic Games, World Cup soccer and Formula One. As the other two are quadrennial, Formula One was the natural fit. This is a challenge, and I love challenges."

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Abramovich of the track?

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