Luxembourg
Senior Finance leader and tax professional with international company and Big Four experience, accustomed to working with Senior Executives and Shareholders. Ability to manage the tax function at the international company level. Deep expertise in taxation and transfer pricing, relevant knowledge in related spheres such as accounting and financial reporting, valuation modelling, corporate financing, company and contractual law. Wide experience in various structuring and optimization projects, M&A, JVs, investment projects. Ability to lead cross-functional projects, represent the finance department before internal and external counterparties. Experience in structuring personal investments of shareholders. Russian and Luxembourgish national, living in Luxembourg, native in Russian, fluent in English and with good command of French.
In addition to the tax duties, mentioned below, I took the following duties as Deputy CFO: • Assist Group CFO in managing various cross-functional projects and processes; • Ensuring optimal Group holding structure and corporate finance structure; • Overseeing financial efficiency of commodity flows structure; • Representing the financial block in the M&A, investment and other projects, ensuring that financial interests of the Company are taken into account; • Assisting CFO in managing accounting and financial statements preparation, including communication with external auditors.
I joined Sodrugestvo S.A. (from 2023 - Sodru S.A.) to lead the tax function of the whole Group (an agricultural business with over usd 4 billion revenue, with oilseeds crushing facilities, infrastructure, logistics, procurement, distribution and trading assets across continents). My main functions were as follows: • Leading the Group’s tax team of around 20 members located in 6 jurisdictions; • Formulating the Group’s tax strategy, developing necessary tools and ensuring the strategy implementation; • Proactive management and control of the Group’s tax costs; • Monitoring changes of Group’s business operations, fund raising, assessing their impact on tax costs and risks, preparing proactively response measures; • Building professional relationships with commercial, treasury, finance, legal and other departments, providing relevant tax support and ensuring that tax interests are respected; • Control over tax environment changes (at the global level, such as BEPS, ATAD, Pillar II, Dac6, as well as regional level) and prepare response to maintain the Group’s tax efficiency and ensure proper compliance; • Developing strategy for and overseeing interaction with tax authorities in various jurisdictions; • Tax risk management with the tax risk map tool being implemented across the regions; • Proactive transfer pricing management to ensure optimal and defendable profit allocation among jurisdictions; • Ensure tax efficient holding structure, commodity flows and financial structure; • Ensure efficiency of tax procedures, controls, compliance; • Tax support of M&A projects, big capital investment projects, frequently coordinating work within the finance department; • Management of cross-functional projects with high level of independence.
I joined Norilsk Nickel, the biggest world producer of nickel and palladium, to head the international tax team of 3 members. My main duties were as follows: • Overseeing and tax support for all non-Russian Group assets: mining assets in South Africa, Botswana and Australia, refinery in Finland, trading offices in Switzerland, UK, USA, China, Hong Kong, holding financial, service companies across the globe; • Ensuring tax efficiency of the Group’s holding, financial, trading and management structures; • Tax support for M&A, JVs, other projects / disposal of assets in Africa, several JVs with western, Chinese and Russian investors; • Ensure optimal transfer pricing of cross-border transactions (successful transfer pricing audit in Russia, project for concluding a bilateral advance pricing arrangement with the tax authorities in Russia and Finland) • Building efficient interaction with foreign tax authorities - tax audits outside Russia, tax litigations (e.g. Australia), rulings / tax ruling obtained in Switzerland • Monitoring tax legislative initiatives, participation in the legislative process in Russia • The Group preparation for the new anti-offshore legislation in Russia (tax risks analysis, restructuring, methodology development, process and controls design and implementation)
In 2010 I joined TNK-BP, which was 50/50 oil joint venture between BP and a consortium of other investors, as a senior tax manager. My main duties were as follows: • Tax support for M&A (in Russia and abroad), big investment projects, JV structuring, fund raising and corporate finance; • Tax support of the interest acquisition in an oil greenfield JV in Brazil, setting up the Brazilian tax function from scratch; • Tax support of the financial consolidation process (methodology, deferred tax calculation control, tax provisions and disclosures, interaction with the auditors) / project for improving reliability of DT projection and DT calculation procedure); • Counsellor of the Corporate Finance Committee: reviewing applications to the committee, briefing the committee’s members (Group’s high executives), minutes preparation, controlling fulfillment of the committee assignments. Working in TNK-BP I came into contact with BP corporate culture, got experience of how efficiently processes could be organized and made my contribution to it. I also gained valuable experience interacting with high level executives in the role of the Corporate Finance Committee counsellor.
My ex-colleagues invited me to KPMG to become a member of a new practice with the business idea to sell cross-functional projects to assist clients in preparing for IPO. My role was advising on group restructuring and tax optimization that would correspond to the level of a public company. These plans had to be adjusted because of 2008 financial crises. • Nevertheless, I deepened my tax expertise performing various tax projects for clients in consumer and industrial sector such as M&A, holding, trade, finance and management structures, transfer pricing projects, due diligence, tax support for financial audits. • I also deepened experience in managing cross-functional projects. • I gained valuable experience in building advisor-client relationships, which allows me to better understand how the advisory world is organized and get the most out of it as a client.
I was invited to RUSAL (one of the biggest world producer of aluminium) to set up the international tax team from scratch to meet international expansion plans of the company. Working alone at the initial stage I developed the function into a team of 3 international tax experts/managers. My key duties were as follows: • Full tax support for the company's international projects (M&A, JVs, financing, commodity flows, management structure) • Tax support and control over Group’s foreign assets (mining and refining enterprises in Guinea, Nigeria, Guyana, Italy, Ireland, Sweden), trading office in Switzerland, holding and financial companies • Tax support of the project for the assets integration within the merger of Rusal, Sual and aluminum assets of Glencore • Coordinating certain cross-functional projects: designing the Swiss trade structure with obtaining a favorable ruling as well as the Group’s management structure.