Hours after Russia invaded Ukraine, control of the venture capital fund owned by Roman Abramovich, who owns shares in renewable energy and technology startups in the U.S., UK and Israel, was transferred to one of its business partners, according to a Wall Street Journal publication.
Norma Investments, a venture capital fund registered in the British Virgin Islands and controlled by Abramovich, transferred control to David Davidovich, the Russian billionaire’s right-hand man, on the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, February 24, according to official reports submitted to the UK Securities and Exchange Commission .
Since then, Britain has imposed sanctions on Abramovich and accused him of receiving favors from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime. On Tuesday this week the EU joined the UK, imposing further sanctions, which oblige Abramovich to freeze his assets and also prohibit him from traveling in the UK and EU countries.
An acquaintance of Davidovich confirmed the publication of the Wall Street Journal and added that the investment in Norma “is part of all his investments and interest in the start-up sector”. So far, Norma Investments has been linked to Abramovich, in a number of official reports submitted to authorities, for example, in 2021, an American biotechnology company reported in its annual report that Norma is controlled by Abramovich. In 2020, a British energy company also listed Abramovich as an indirect investor in the business, through Norma Investments.
Norma Investments is a venture capital fund owned by Roman Abramovich. Since 2018, Norma has owned MHC Services Ltd, a management consulting firm operating in the offices of the Chelsea Football Club. Norma has invested in renewable fuel companies in the US and acquired a stake in the British energy company Velocys PLC, according to official reports. Norma also funded research on cancer and anti-aging drugs conducted by an American biotechnology company, Cleveland BioLabs Inc, which is also controlled by Abramowitz ‘.
Documents submitted to the UK Securities and Exchange Commission show that the two associates, Abramovich and Davidovich, often invest together. In some of the documents, Davidovich is listed as the CEO of Millhouse LLC, an investment company from Moscow, which Abramovich founded two decades ago.
The change in control of the norm comes in the wake of fears of economic sanctions that Western governments have threatened to impose on Abramovich’s business ventures, following well-known ties with Putin and the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. In addition to the sale of his 15-bedroom mansion in London, as well as the Chelsea football club he owns, the Russian billionaire has made an effort to transfer ownership of his assets in recent weeks. London, Brussels and Washington have all threatened to block the activities of a group of wealthy Russian billionaires, including Abramovich, in the hope that it will put pressure on the Kremlin.
Experts in the field explain that selling assets to relatives, or transferring ownership to family members, can be a way to prevent, even if temporarily, the freezing of assets, thus enabling indirect control of assets, without being harmed by sanctions.
Our group, an Israeli technology company in which Abramovich invested in 2015, reported in 2016 that Abramovich had acquired a shareholding in it, through a subsidiary of Norma Investments.
In 2017, Davidovich tried to acquire control of Globes through his then-representative Nir Hefetz. Alona Bar-On, now the publisher of Globes and the controlling shareholder, faced him and won the battle to buy the shares of the bankrupt businessman Elazar Fishman, in a battle that reached the Supreme Court.