Baltic States – CIS, Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation

Alexander Antonov.

The banker was shot five times but survived the attack. Investigators believe that the murder attempt is related to Antonov' business activity, the newspaper Kommersant reports.

The businessman was attacked upon exiting his house, escorted by his bodyguard. Antonov sustained five gunshot wounds, including a severe chest injury. The banker underwent surgery and, according to the doctors, his life is not in danger.

Several former managers of Konvers Grup have expressed their opinion that the attack was, most probably, not related to Antonov' activity in the banking sector, but rather to his side business. As they commented to Kommersant, Antonov and his son are also shareholders in the Kaliningrad Seaport, where they have reportedly been experiencing business difficulties, reports LETA.

Vladimir Antonov, son of the injured entrepreneur, is the owner of Konvers Grup, which includes the Russian bank Konversbank, Konversbank in turn controls Snoras bank in Lithuania, which acquired the controlling stake in Latvian Latvijas Krajbanka in September 2005. Alexander Antonov is a member of Krajbanka council.

In September 2005 the assets of the group, which included banks Akademhimbank, Konvers, Snoras and Enisei, surpassed USD 1.6 billion; in April 2006, after acquisition of a small British bank, the total worth of the group's assets reached USD 2.7 billion. At this point Antonov was considered to be among the richest people of Russia.

Vladimir Antonov's name was often mentioned in the media after the Konvers Grup list of shareholders was made public and it became known that the former accountant Antonov is not only the chairman of the group's board of directors, but also the owner of 58.07% of Konversbank shares and has additional 18.39% stake in Akademhimbank, which was later renamed Konversbank-Moskva and is part of the Konvers Grup.