His yacht passed through the blocked Strait of Hormuz/ Who is the Russian tycoon who built a steel empire for car manufacturing?

2026-04-29 11:49:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

His yacht passed through the blocked Strait of Hormuz/ Who is the Russian tycoon

In March 2022, as Europe tightened the noose of sanctions around Russian oligarchs, a grand yacht worth 65 million euros was seized in Italian ports.

The yacht “Lady M” belonged to Alexey Mordashov, one of the Russian tycoons. Just yesterday, a second ship associated with his name, the Nord, was seen passing through the Strait of Hormuz despite the blockade, raising some questions.

Who is Alexey Mordashov, the tycoon who also influences car prices?

Mordashov is not a "car guy" in the classic sense. We're not talking about a wealthy classic supercar collector or an investor in premium brands. He's the man who built a steel empire - and at some point decided to go into manufacturing himself.

In the early 2000s, through Severstal, the steelmaker it controls with a stake of about 77%, it created an autonomous industrial branch dedicated to the automotive industry. This company was called Severstal-auto and was officially founded in 2002. A few years later, with Mordashov as chairman of the board, Severstal-auto was listed on the stock exchange and began producing cars in partnership with Fiat and SsangYong (Daewoo).

The control structure was clear: Mordashov owned 100% of Newdeal Investments, which in turn owned almost 88% of Severstal-auto. At the same time, the company controlled two subsidiaries worth mentioning: UAZ, the well-known Russian manufacturer of off-road and commercial vehicles, and ZMZ, an engine plant that covered the production needs of the entire chain. This was, in every sense, a complete automotive ecosystem: from the engine to the sale of the vehicle.

The 2007 holiday and the new game

In January 2007, Mordashov relinquished direct control of Severstal-auto. The controlling block passed to Vadim Shvetsov, and the company was later renamed SOLLERS. From that moment on, his relationship with the car changed character, but did not disappear.

Sollers continued to build major partnerships: a 50/50 joint venture with Ford in 2011, a similar one with Mazda in 2012, and later with Isuzu for trucks. In 2016, an ambitious project to produce Mazda engines in the Russian Far East was launched with an investment exceeding 2.8 billion rubles. These moves now belonged to Sollers, not Mordashov directly. But they are a continuation of the chain that he himself set up.

Without steel, there is no car.

Herein lies the most crucial point. Mordashov, through Severstal, remains deeply connected to the automotive industry - not as a manufacturer, but as the man who supplies the material from which cars are made.

Severstal has been a major supplier of steel sheets to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and component manufacturers for decades. Official company documents record approved shipments of galvanized steel to Ford Motor Company and Ford Sollers for dozens of types of component parts. They mention special steel grades developed exclusively for Renault, Hyundai-Kia and Benteler Automotive.

At the same time, Severstal participates in metal processing joint ventures with Mitsui, Gonvarri and Gestamp, the latter specializing in structural body parts for automakers, with facilities near Volkswagen and Peugeot-Citroën factories.

Simply put: in every car produced in Russia and shipped throughout Europe, but also in many others produced elsewhere, Mordashov's steel was present.

Sanctions, yachts and collateral damage

When the EU, UK and US imposed sanctions on Mordashov and Severstal after the invasion of Ukraine, the blow did not come directly to any of the car factories he now controls.

The blow came to the supply industry that supports manufacturers. Severstal announced a suspension of exports to the EU. Ford exited Sollers for a nominal fee. Mazda sold 50% of the joint venture for 1 euro, with a purchase option that ultimately expired without effect in 2025.

This is the impact of sanctions on the industrial base that Mordashov helped build: a gradual disintegration of Western partnerships in the Russian automotive industry.

The profile of an industrialist, not a collector

Unlike other Russian billionaires, there is no hard evidence that Mordashov has a personal collection of supercars or is actively involved in luxury brands. His documented luxury track record is the seized yachts “Lady M” and “Nord.”

However, this does not diminish the importance of his connection to the industry. It simply gives it a different character. Mordashov is an industrialist who for years directly controlled both the production of cars and the flow of steel that feeds them. Today, direct production has passed into other hands, but the steel is still there.

And without steel, there is no car. /Taken from Protothema