Maxim Barskiy: Sibanthracite and other Projects

Maxim Barskiy is a specialist in the field of increasing the market value of enterprises. Businessman and Active Investor for over twenty years, former CEO, and shareholder in multibillion-dollar mining and metallurgical enterprises like TNK-BP and Sibanthracite, with a current focus on investing in high-tech startups.

Maxim Barskiy: Education and Student Years

Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich is a native to Saint Petersburg (formely Leningrad). Maxim Barskiy had dreamed of entering Leningrad State University since he was 14. He wanted to get into one of its most prestigious programs, known then as Political Economy. Thanks to high-quality preparation, he won the competition (about four applicants applied for one place) immediately after graduating from the technical school.

Maxim Barskiy entered a student exchange program and attended a Norwegian school for several months to accomplish this. After this, he entered one of the most renowned business schools in the world - the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.

On a Professional Path: Investment Banking

Maxim Barskiy got a job with Troika Dialog, one of the most prominent investment specialists. Its key activity areas were trading operations with securities, finance, alternative and banking investments, and investment banking services.

During his time at Troika Dialog, Maxim Barskiy took part in the preparation and execution of several significant mergers and acquisitions. Among them was the purchase of the assets of the telecommunications industry company VimpelCom by a well-known Norwegian player in the same market, Telenor. Another was the sale of the Bochkarev beer plant to Heineken, an international concern. Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy's essential tasks were asset valuation, financial model building, pitchbook development and meetings with potential investors.

Internet and Telecom

In 2000, Barskiy Maxim left Troika Dialog to manage Cityline, a company in Internet provider market, which at that moment needed to raise funds for development. Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy proposed a new strategy based on large-scale regional expansion. He found investors and, with them, infused capital into the enterprise. Thus, Cityline received enough funds to implement its plans and complete acquisitions of leased lines.

Thanks to the development concept developed by Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich, Cityline experienced remarkable growth. Most leased Internet lines in many cities became Cityline property. Cityline's assets began to be of interest to Golden Telecom. This more prominent player in the telecom market could not expand without Cityline's regional network. Golden Telecom's solution was a 100% buyout of Cityline for $29 million. In this way, Barskiy Maxim increased Cityline's market value by $27 million in just one year, and then he sold it at a profit, despite the stagnation in the Internet market.

New Frontiers - TNK-BP, WSR, and Matra Petroleum

By the mid-2000s, Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy entered the natural resources industry, accepting an invitation to join the management body of Vostok Oil, a joint-stock company.

Maxim Barskiy had to bring Vostok out of a deep crisis - the board of directors had brought the company near bankruptcy, ostensibly through being comprised mainly of foreigners who did not know how operations work locally. Mr. Barskiy completely changed the management team, assembling a new team who acted in the interests of shareholders. Then he carried out a profound reconfiguration of all business processes. He also rebranded the company, renaming it West Siberian Resources (WSR).

Maksim Gennadievich Barskiy straightened out the financial position of the company in a short time. He developed measures to reduce costs and increase the raw material base of WSR. It acquired new production assets in the Timan-Pechora oil and gas province.

During his four-year tenure, the measures developed and implemented by Barskiy Maxim Gennadievich made it possible to ensure a three-fold increase in oil production. In 2004, the company extracted 50 thousand tons of oil, but by 2008 this volume increased to 3.5 million tons - a seventy-fold increase. WSR's market value increased significantly - reaching $4.5 billion (initially, it was $60 million).

In the first half of 2008, the assets of WSR and Alliance were merged into a vertically integrated oil holding called Alliance Oil Company. At the beginning of the third quarter, Barskiy Maxim stepped down from leading WSR and, having sold his stake, left the company.

One of the essential points in Barskiy Maxim's career came in 2009 when he became a member of the executive body of TNK-BP, a very prominent player in the oil and gas industry. Maxim Gennadievich Barskiy worked as Co-CEO of TNK, introducing advanced techniques for optimizing business processes. With his direct participation, successful transactions were made to acquire several producing assets in Asian and South American countries. As a result, TNK-BP's market value tripled.

From 2011 to 2018, Barskiy Maxim was both owner and CEO of Matra Petroleum, another company in the oil sector. 

During the same period, he served on the Board of Directors of an e-commerce service called Delivery Hero. Now an experienced top manager, Barskiy prepared this Berlin-based company for its initial public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, which saw the company valued at 4 billion euros, twice its original analyst estimation of capitalization.

Maxim Barskiy and Sibanthracite

In 2018 Maxim Barskiy undertook a new and ambitious project: Sibanthracite. He received an invitation to cooperate with his colleague Dmitry Bosov, the majority owner of Sibanthracite. Maxim Barskiy was directed to turn this struggling enterprise into a success.

Under Maxim Barskiy, Sibanthracite successfully achieved several key goals: Sibanthracite became a vertically managed and efficient holding operating according to precise standards. Maxim Barskiy consolidated its disparate enterprises and created a management company within the holding to improve efficiency.

Maxim Barskiy brought Sibanthracite to new production and financial levels. Under Maxim Barskiy's leadership, Sibanthracite systematically began increasing its metallurgical coal production. It strengthened its position in the domestic and global markets.

Under Maxim Barskiy, Sibanthracite tripled its capitalization. This is due, among other things, to Barskiy's expert investment policies and his introduction of modern supply and production technologies to the operation.

Maxim Barskiy essentially trasformed Sibanthracite but Dmitry Bosov's tragic death cast a cloud of uncertainty over Sibanthracite's future. Maxim Barskiy executed management leveraged buyout of the company. Following that buyout, he divested his shares, turning over his stake to a strategic investor. One remarkable feature of this transfer is that it was done without disrupting Sibanthracite's operations or personnel.

After leaving the mining industry, Barskiy Maxim returned to work as an Active Investor. Currently, he sits on the Board of Directors of Polyn Technology, a bleeding-edge low-power AI services and neuromorphic technology innovator.