The King of Bankruptcy and Republican Adviser
Ross is a prominent investor, banker and a specialist in anti-crisis management. During the presidential campaign, he also served as an economic adviser to Donald Trump.
"Wilbur Ross is a champion of American manufacturing and knows how to help companies succeed. Most importantly, he is one of the greatest negotiators I have ever met, and that comes from me, the author of The Art of the Deal," Trump said in the release.
Ross gained his net worth ($2.5 billion and $2.9 billion, according to estimates by Forbes and Bloomberg relatively) on bankruptcies. He took a share in the capital of failed companies, restructured their operations and returned them back to profits. The corporate America dubbed Ross the King of Bankruptcy.
Ross started to invest in failed assets in 1997, when he established his own investing fund. In the late-1990s, he decided to intensify investing activities amid a surge of bankruptcies of large American corporations.
In 2000, Ross bought out his investing fund from Rothschild and opened his own investment business WL Ross, which attracted $440 million. In 2006, the billionaire sold the business to investing giant Invesco but remained one of the fund’s directors.
Trump and Ross could have had first business contacts in the 1980s when Trump was in a difficult financial situation. Creditors of the Trump Taj Mahal casino chain sought to restructure the business, including removing the Trump name from the title. At the time, Ross was a financial adviser to the creditors and his stance helped Trump preserve the brand and save the business.
Ross also served as an adviser on privatization to Rudolf Giuliani when he was mayor of New York City in 1994-2001.
Ross’ Ties With Russia
In the 1990s, Ross was a consultant on US-Russia trade in Bill Clinton’s administration. He was also a member of the managing board of the US-Russia Investment Fund (TUSRIF). The fund was established in 1995, and in cooperation with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) it organized investments in the Russian economy.
The fund was managed by Delta Private Equity (earlier – Delta Capital Management). In 2004, Russia’s Delta Bank operated by the fund was bought by General Electric. In 2005, DeltaKredit, another Russian bank operated by the fund, was purchased by Societe Generale.
Both deals were organized by Kirill Dmitriyev, who currently serves as director general of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). In 2011, as the head of the RDIF, Dmitriyev organized a presentation of the fund in New York before a group of businessmen who managed a total of $2 trillion of assets, according to RBK. Wilbur Ross was among the participants of the meeting.
In an interview with The Financial Times last month, Dmitriyev suggested that such people as Ross in the new US presidential administration would contribute to normalization with Russia.
"People like that would be great for business because business likes to see people who have been successful in business in important positions," he said, pointing in particular to Ross.
Ross also worked with Russian business structures when he was deputy chairman at the board of directors of Bank of Cyprus. At the time, Ross was close to Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, who in 2008-2012 was director general of Nornikel, a Russian nickel and palladium mining company.
According to Strzhalkovsky, Ross is an experienced specialist in trade and a major investor.
"Ross’ attitude to Russia was always good. He had no prejudices about Russia or Russian businessmen," Strzhalkovsky was quoted as saying by RBK.
Director of Strategic Project at Renova Group Maksim Goldman also worked with Ross at Bank of Cyprus. He characterized Ross as a thoughtful and experienced investor, with outstanding working capabilities.
