Alexander Knaster

About Alexander Knaster

Birth Day: February 19, 1959
Birth Place: United States
Birth Sign: Pisces
Residence: London
Education: BS Carnegie Mellon University MBA Harvard Business School
Occupation: Investment manager
Known for: Founder of Pamplona Capital Management
Spouse(s): Irina Knaster
Children: Four

Alexander Knaster Net Worth

Alexander Knaster was born on February 19, 1959 in United States. Moscow-born banker Alexander Knaster emigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1976 and became a U.S. citizen. He returned to Russia in the mid-1990s and headed Credit Suisse First Boston's Moscow operation. He later became chief of Alfa Bank, Russia's largest private commercial bank. Now Knaster heads Pamplona Capital Management, a British private equity firm he founded in 2005, whose clients include Alfa Group. He got UK citizenship in 2009. In 2007 Knaster and other Russian Jewish billionaires formed the Genesis Philanthropy Group, a foundation that promotes Jewish identity among Russian-speaking Jews worldwide. He has also given significantly to his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University, creating the Alexander M. Knaster Scholarship Fund to aid full-time undergraduate students in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; he also endowed the chair of the mathematics department at Carnegie Mellon. In March 2013 Alfa Group sold its stake in oil joint-venture TNK-BP for $28 billion, Knaster got $600 million out of this sum. In March 2014 German RWE, the one of the Europe's leading utilities companies, agreed to sell its oil and gas company RWE Dea to Alfa Group for 5.1 billion euro. Knaster is in the process of transferring the majority of his assets, including his stakes in LetterOne, into a new charitable foundation, whose objective is to fight cancer and which will be focused on early stage cancer research. This transfer will be completed in the end of 2014.
Alexander Knaster is a member of Investments

💰Alexander Knaster Net worth: $2.1 Billion

2010 $1.15 Billion
2011 $1.1 Billion
2012 $1.4 Billion
2013 $1.8 Billion
2014 $2.1 Billion
2018 $2.1 Billion

Some Alexander Knaster images

Biography/Timeline

1959

Knaster was born in Moscow in 1959 to a Jewish family of academics. His Father, Mark Knaster, who held several patents relating to metal coatings, batteries and solar cells, worked in a number of respected scientific institutions, including USC. His mother, Tatyana Knaster, is a civil Engineer who taught at Pennsylvania Institute of Technology.

1980

Knaster immigrated to the United States at the age of 16 with his family. He graduated with a B.S. electric engineering and mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University which he attended on a scholarship. In 1980, he accepted a job as an Engineer with Schlumberger working on their oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

1985

After graduating in 1985 with an MBA from Harvard Business School and working at several investment banks, he returned to Russia in 1995 to work as CEO of the Russian branch of Credit Suisse First Boston. He also earned a PhD in Economics from the Russian Academy of Science. In 1998, he resigned from CSFB and accepted an offer from Mikhail Fridman to become CEO at Alfa Bank. He was very successful and due to his background in investment banking, Knaster established Pamplona Capital Management in 2004, in which the Alfa Group would invest some of its profit. He chose the name Pamplona after the Pamplona San-Fermin Festival which he attended after graduating from Harvard Business School. His investor pool has since grown beyond Alfa. As of 2013, Pamplona managed over $6.5 billion in assets of which $2.0 billion belongs to the Alfa Group. Knaster also serves as Executive Fellow, London Business School, member of faculty at Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship.

1993

Knaster is an active philanthropist, who has made significant contributions to different academic institutions, including Carnegie Mellon University and Harvard Business School, where he serves as a regional Campaign Leadership volunteer. In 1993, Knaster established the Alexander M. Knaster Scholarship Fund for undergraduates in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2011, in partnership with fellow alumnus Bruce McWilliams, Knaster helped to establish the Knaster-McWilliams scholarships, which allow for increased access to faculty and early research opportunities in addition to tuition assistance. The Alexander M. Knaster Professorship in Mathematical sciences is named in his honor.

2014

In 2014 Knaster established The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. He has transferred the bulk of his assets to it and plans to develop it to become a leading global donor to early stage cancer research.

2019

Knaster has also generously supported the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Dr. Maria I. New Children’s Hormone Foundation, which supports research, physician education, and the cost of care for children suffering from genetic hormonal disorders.