Interview with Eleftheria Kourtalis
Its aim is to shake up the waters of the European financial market with the help of technology, but also to help Greek small and medium enterprises to raise capital to grow as well as to enter the American market. The reason for the billionaire CEO of Nasdaq-listed Freedom Holding, the 36-year-old Timur Turlovincluded in the Forbes list, whom Capital.gr met in New York, in the context of the investment conference LD Micro Conference.
At the age of 21 and in the middle of the global financial crisis in 2008, Turlov lost his job in the investment department of Uniastrum Bank in Moscow, and together with his colleagues decided to take advantage of their knowledge and run their own business, Freedom Finance, with an initial capital of 100,000 euros, which provides access to US stock exchanges and brokerage services. His strategy then, 16 years ago, was to acquire companies in different industries, while now he has acquired many start-ups in Kazakhstan, thus creating a digital ecosystem of companies, which makes up an undeniable success story. After all, his fortune today exceeds 4 billion dollars.
In 2011, 36-year-old Turlov, now a father of six, moved with his family to Kazakhstan, where two years later he opened the subsidiary Freedom Finance JSC. In 2015 he became the main shareholder of Freedom Holding Corp. (based in Kazakhstan and in which he holds a 71% stake), under whose umbrella he subsequently placed 14 companies including Freedom Finance Investment Company, Freedom Finance JSC, Freedom24 trading platform and Freedom Finance Bank.
That same year, in 2015, it entered the US market through a Kazakh oil and gas mining company, BMB Munai Inc., listed in the US and based in Nevada, and in 2019 – shortly before the outbreak of the pandemic – the Freedom Holding became the first financial institution from the Commonwealth of Independent States to be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
As Turloff pointed out while speaking to Capital.gr, the listing on the US market was probably the best check-mate move in his career so far, before the… next one. After all, its share, from around 14 dollars during its introduction in October 2019, today has shot up to 67 dollars, while its capitalization reaches 4 billion dollars.
From 2013 until today, Freedom Holding has opened 122 offices and branches internationally, with 10 offices in central Europe and in particular in France, Spain, Poland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Italy, Cyprus (which it chose as the headquarters of the European arm of its activities), as well as in Greece, which opened in 2022, while in 2024 it will also open offices in Lithuania, Denmark, Belgium and the Czech Republic. It also maintains offices in United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan as well as subsidiaries in Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates, Germany, United Kingdom and Cyprus.
Capital raising “Platform” for Greek companies and for IPOs on Nasdaq
Turlov, who although born in Russia acquired citizenship from Kazakhstan in 2022, declares in an interview with Capital.gr that he has big plans for Greek companies. After all, the Greek market is the largest in Europe for his company, as he pointed out, with 20% of its total 215,000 customers in Europe being in Greece, exceeding 56,000 (Germany comes second with 17,900 customers), while at an international level the Freedom24 platform serves over 430,000 customers.
Freedom Finance’s platform has been a member of the Greek stock exchange since 2023, thus directly supporting transactions in the domestic stock market, while its turnover in our country was 345 million dollars in 2023, coming exclusively from retail clientele, registering a 330% increase in annual basis, with transactions reaching 407,000. Freedom24 offers exposure to 15 international stock exchanges in the USA, Europe and Asia, while enabling its investor-clients to participate even with small amounts in public offerings of American and European companies and to trade in foreign stock exchanges with online procedures. However, as the 36-year-old CEO of Freedom Holding pointed out, “we found that investors in Greece prefer to trade on the Greek Stock Exchange, Greek shares, and not so much on the US market”.
However, his plans for Greece do not stop there and on the Freedom24 platform. In his immediate plans, from 2025 in fact, is to bring Greek small and medium-sized companies in contact with investors in the USA. After all, since 2022 Freedom Holding has obtained a license for underwriting services in the USA.
“The key potential synergies between our European and US operations are to provide Greek investors with access to opportunities in the US, and to also offer certain Greek opportunities to US investors,” notes Turloff. “We can help Greek companies raise capital here in the US because the US market is now one of the biggest in the world and we are licensed to do that. We can certainly help Greek companies get listed in the US and also bring some American investors on the Greek Stock Exchange and help them access the Greek opportunities, because we also have a trading infrastructure”.
As Turloff revealed, next year Freedom Holding will start discussions with companies in Greece, to test the waters and talk to American investors. “If we have positive feedback from these discussions, we are very happy to help raise capital, to be the platform that will help Greek companies raise capital in the US. We already have the permission from the regulatory authorities which allows us to proceed to synergies between the European and American markets”.
Freedom Holding will focus on innovative SMEs in Greece, as international competition for them is low. “The big investment banks are focusing on high capitalization companies as they pursue large IPOs. We will help some innovative Greek companies to raise capital and move on to smaller IPOs,” Turloff emphasizes, adding that at the same time his goal is to help companies already listed in Greece companies to be listed on Nasdaq at the same time, in order to increase their liquidity and capitalization. “It’s not the easiest project as it’s not that much in demand, but if there’s a right approach, we can definitely find investors for many companies from Europe in general to raise capital for their growth,” he adds.
The goal is to obtain a banking license in Europe
From 2015 to date Freedom Holding has invested over $100 million in promising startups in Kazakhstan, having acquired companies from the security, technology, telecommunications, consulting, IT, e-commerce and payments industries, thereby building an ecosystem of companies that digitally offer various services to the country while creating a massive data platform.
In Kazakhstan, Freedom Holding is a pioneer in the financial industry and an example of a socially responsible business. The company is known for its high professional standards in digitized brokerage, banking and insurance services, while also supporting social projects such as football and chess. Chess is also Turlov’s favorite sport, and since January 2023 he is the head of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation.
When Freedom acquires start ups it does not aim to sell them to make a profit. “Every time we buy a stake in a new project, we will hold it for years. We enter the business to unlock its full potential and to create a unique ecosystem,” Turloff points out.
The company is also focused on developing its operations in the US. In 2020, it acquired Prime Executions, a brokerage that facilitates Freedom Holding clients to access IPOs on US exchanges.
Turloff’s next goal is, as he reveals, the development of his activities in Europe. A few days ago, he made this ambition clear by inviting journalists from all over the world to New York to attend, among other things, the investment conference LD Micro Conference. The conference was organized by the American listed service provider LD Micro, which is also a recent (2023) acquisition of Freedom Holding.
“Present” at the conference, which was attended by Capital.gr at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan, were more than 80 US small capitalization companies, while more than 1,200 meetings were held with investors. Robert Wojak, president and CEO of Freedom US markets, Paul Dorfman, head of listings at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Andy Hull, Senior Managing Director at Nasdaq participated in the main panel of the conference on the topic of introducing companies to the US market. , and Chris Mayo, head of Primary Markets, Americas, at the London Stock Exchange Group.
“Obtaining a banking license in Europe is the most exciting opportunity for us and we will look at it next year,” Turloff told Capital.gr. “But even if we find a target, it will take a long time to be approved by the regulatory authorities – I hope that all our experience in digitizing insurance, payments, consumer loans, lifestyle ecosystems, e-commerce, that basically “What we did in Kazakhstan will eventually be leveraged in Europe. We will try to build the same kind of ecosystem in Europe and find companies maybe not for acquisition but for data exchange and access to the customer base – for strategic alliance and partnerships,” explains Turlov.
In Kazakhstan, Freedom Finance Europe combines the investment services and deposit accounts it offers with banking products. With a card linked directly to customers’ accounts, transactions, withdrawals and electronic payments are made. He wants to implement such a model in Europe.
“Technology can change everything”
In all that the 36-year-old billionaire has achieved and for all that he aims for in the immediate future, technology is key. “I have a dream, to try to change some market approaches to some financial services, to change the standards of the industry, to make it simpler, cheaper, faster and reduce the percentage of the financial sector in GDP. The industry is still consuming a lot of resources for the distribution of investments, savings and of course it plays an important role in the economy, but it could be much more efficient and consume much less human resources,” Turloff points out.
“I think this new approach with technology will make the financial sector cheaper for countries’ finances, for businesses and savers. Today the industry still employs a lot of people who don’t do the most creative jobs and I hope those people lead to more productive work. With technology we can reduce costs and offer much cheaper, more reliable products. Technology can change everything in a very short period of time,” adds Turloff.
Having invested heavily in technology and digitization, the Kazakh CEO of Freedom Holding knows very well how to spot opportunities on this front. Many companies have established tech hubs in Greece recently, over 140, and as he pointed out to Capital.gr, “Greece has significant prospects of becoming a technological hub for Southeast Europe and the Middle East”.
