Following Russia’s financial crisis in 1998, the business duo saw a great opportunity to acquire stakes in stevedoring companies at the port, which eventually led to the creation of Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port. Once it was publicly listed in 2007, Skorobogatko and Ponomarenko got a windfall worth $1 billion. The two sold 20% of their holdings to Arkady Rotenberg in 2008, and four years later, they decided to join him in the establishment of TPS Real Estate Holding Ltd with a capital of $15.5 billion. There was a period when he couldn’t actively participate in the business since he had served as an elected deputy in the State Duma from 2002 to 2011, when he got re-elected for a third term.
