Andrey Lavrentyev, owner of Allur Auto — Kazakhstan’s largest automotive company — who acquired ArcelorMittal Temirtau (AMT) from Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal in late 2023 (renamed Qarmet), has debuted on the latest Forbes Kazakhstan list of the richest people, ranking 12th with a net worth of $840 million.
The media outlet pointed out that Qarmet stopped publishing audited reports on Dfo.kz, a digital reporting platform, as early as the time when the deal between Lavrentyev and Mittal was being prepared. As a result, the only way to estimate a «more or less appropriate» value of the company’s assets was through financial statements issued by Mittal Steel, to which Qarmet continues to repay debts.
Apart from Qarmet, Lavrentyev directly and indirectly holds a 44% stake in the Allur Group, which includes the SaryarkaAvtoProm production facility as well as a multi-brand network of car dealership centers. In addition, the entrepreneur owns a 55% stake in Agromashholding KZ, a Kostanay-based manufacturer of agricultural machinery.
In 2024, Lavrentyev established Tengri Tyres, a joint venture with Russia’s Tatneft to produce Attar-branded tires in Saran, as reported by Forbes. The entrepreneur also owns QazTehna, a factory producing buses and other commercial vehicles in partnership with the Chinese bus manufacturer Yutong, as well as Ilya and Vitaliy Kan and Olga Nigai, all three through the Onay Pay company.
The latest list of the top 75 richest Kazakhstanis features nine newcomers, aside from Lavrentyev:
Nurlan Artykbayev ($228 million, 44th), the majority owner of the Qazaq Stroy and Exclusive Qurylys construction companies; he also controls 9.19% of Kazakhtelecom;
Pavlinger family ($227 million, 45th). Its members hold stakes in a group of companies focused on producing components for railways, as well as in R.W.S. Binding, R.W.S. Concrete, Railcast Systems and others;
Alidar Utemuratov ($161 million, 59th), the founder of DAR Group, which includes Darlean, DAR University and Dossym;
Tursengali Alaguzov ($130 million, 61st), the owner of the Galanz Bottlers soft drink factory and JFood Kazakhstan, a flour and noodle products manufacturer:
Ershat Salimov ($115 million, 65th), a co-owner of Rakhimzhan-Petroleum, Equity Real Estate Investment Trust Tsum, Energoinvest Ltd. and others. He also holds stakes in Baturov GRES Power Plant, Atyrau Zharyk, Kokshetau Energo and Atyrau Heat Grids;
Askar Baitassov ($110 million, 67th), the majority owner of the ABR restaurant chain, which includes 50 venues, and the ABR Tech company;
Serik Konakbayev ($94 million, 73rd), a shareholder with a 60% stake in SSM Oil and a stake in ARK Petroleum;
Yerlan Suleimenov ($90 million, 75th), the founder of Olymp clinical and diagnostic laboratories. He also owns Meditec, the Regional Diagnostic Center and Myrza-Khan companies.
Forbes Kazakhstan’s top three richest individuals are Vyacheslav Kim, co-owner of Kaspi.kz, with a net worth of $7.1 billion, up $1.3 billion from the previous year; Timur Turlov, CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., emerging as the youngest person on the list with a total wealth of $5.8 billion (+$2.5 billion); and Vladimir Kim, the majority shareholder of KAZ Minerals Ltd., with a fortune of $5.7 billion (+$2.1 billion over the year).
