Volodymyr Zelensky’s most significant speech while in Recent York last week was not on the UN, but in a personal room just a few blocks away.
“Investing in Ukraine must be good for you and good for us. I understand capitalism,” the Ukrainian president told what was described to me as a “star-struck” group of billionaire financiers, plus Henry Kissinger, Recent England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and celebrity chef José Andrés.
Zelensky, in fact, was on the town to deal with the United Nations, the largely irrelevant multinational body that opens its General Assembly annually in September here in Recent York City. He’s a rock star on the worldwide stage, having fought the evil of Vlad Putin to a standstill in his two-year battle to maintain Ukraine from falling under the dictator’s thumb.
Yet his UN speech was oddly anodyne. He railed about Russia’s aggression and his nation’s need for continued assistance. He attacked the UN as feckless; it gives dictatorships like Russia a seat on the table, which is why it’s powerless to stop the war.
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For some real motion, you needed to have been a fly on the wall a few days in a while Thursday, around mid-afternoon. Under the guise of secrecy, at Ukraine’s Everlasting Mission, Zelensky sat down with a number of the richest men on this planet. While Zelensky needs US government aid to maintain fighting the nice fight against Putin (he flew to DC later that night), he needs the dudes in that room — and their money — to make sure that Ukraine survives and thrives once the fighting stops.
I wasn’t that fly, but my sources were, which is why the meeting arranged by megabank JP Morgan turned out to be not so secret. Mary Erdoes, head of wealth management, and her No. 2, Vince La Padula, got here up with the idea to host Zelensky and the moneymen while the UN was in session. Each know the country from the ground up, literally. Erdoes has donated her time to constructing orphanages within the western a part of the country; La Padula in February dodged bombs as he toured Kyiv.
Private investment
They’ve been hired because the country’s financial advisers, and their job is to lift a personal investment fund to rebuild Ukraine with the goal of getting some money from the people in that room.
And there was a variety of money no less than desirous about rolling the dice on Ukraine when the “poorest” billionaire is price just $2.1 billion. That might be Dan Lubetzky, who runs the corporate that created KIND nutrition bars.
He was seated near former mayor and financial data entrepreneur Mike Bloomberg, price an estimated $96 billion; Ken Griffin of the Citadel investment empire, price around $35 billion; Eric Schmidt, the previous CEO of Google, who comes in at around $20 billion; the aforementioned Kraft at $11 billion; Jonathan Gray, the president of personal equity powerhouse Blackstone and likely successor to Stephen Schwarzman, price around $7 billion; Barry Sternlicht, of Starwood Capital with $4 billion in bank, and Bill Ackman, the high-profile hedge fund operator price nearly $3.6 billion.
Henry Kissinger was invited not for his money but because he’s Henry Kissinger, in fact. Kraft is a JP Morgan client and has also been involved in humanitarian efforts within the country, as is Chef Andrés. Larry Fink, the pinnacle of BlackRock, didn’t make the cut, but I’m told he sent one other BlackRock exec to attend. The CEO of the world’s largest money management firm had his own private one-on-one with Zelensky to determine the country’s private-money dilemma.
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Bloomberg was most engaged, peppering Zelensky with questions on the economy, and the historical significance of standing as much as dictators. Zelensky apparently said all the precise stuff in making his money pitch — and his pitch to maintain fighting. He compared negotiating with Putin to Europe’s initial ill-fated negotiations with Hitler. He also said he understands capitalism, which doesn’t really work without the rule of law. Private capital demands a return, which might be elusive if it’s siphoned off by an enormous system of corruption.
Ukraine isn’t Russia, in fact. Putin runs the place like a Mafia don, business leaders run under his protection and kick up money to their Godfather. Once they don’t, they often die. Ukraine’s brand of crony capitalism is a bit softer. Again, it’s not as bad because the Russian variety, however it’s also a no go for significant private investment.
The corruption query, I’m told, was raised by Ackman, whose hedge fund often sniffs out investment fraud, and Zelensky’s more complete answer should give the moneymen pause before opening their checkbook. In answering, he used a Ukrainian word for “wall,” which an aide later translated for him and the group into English. As Zelensky described it, based on the system of presidency within the country there was a limit — or a “wall,” so to talk — blocking him from doing all the things he desired to do on the corruption problem.
My sources say the comment didn’t generate a direct response. Nevertheless, nobody made a firm monetary commitment. The chat then shifted to Zelensky’s more compelling pitch: The war will end someday, and Ukraine has an informed workforce, and a resilient people. The western a part of the country is peaceful and open for business.
It’s hard not to tug for Zelensky; everyone in that room, I’m told, would really like to play a task in rebuilding the country. I’m also told that first, he has to take down that wall.
