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Filaret Galchev, the Russian billionaire who controls Eurocement

Filaret Galchev, the Russian businessman with extensive construction interests, has become the latest tycoon to suffer the effect of collapsing commodity prices and financial market volatility.

According to people familiar with the matter, the billionaire’s decision to sell his $1.5bn holding in LafargeHolcim last month was spurred by requests to post more collateral from lenders at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Eurocement — the building materials group that Mr Galchev controls — had been asked for this collateral by the US bank to cover loans it had used to build the stake, the people said. Its stakebuilding had made it LafargeHolcim’s third-biggest shareholder.

Following the collateral request, Eurocement struck a deal two weeks ago to sell its 6.12 per cent stake to Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender — a deal that came with an agreement to buy it back at a later date.

One person close to the matter and another close to LafargeHolcim said Sberbank had stepped in to take on Mr Galchev’s position in the Swiss cement company and its obligation to the US bank.

This agreement, dated January 22, was reached after global growth fears triggered turmoil across markets, and a sharp drop in LafargeHolcim’s share price, which is now down more than 40 per cent in the past six months.

In a further twist, this week the Russian bank sold the entire $1.5bn position in a share placement handled by UBS. When Sberbank took on the stake, shares in LafargeHolcim were trading around SFr41, but the 37.2m shares were placed by UBS at SFr36.25.

Since Switzerland’s Holcim took over Lafarge of France last June, the merged company has suffered from weak sales in many key markets, and underperformed competitors in terms of profitability. In November, the company said it was forced to slash spending to combat a global capacity glut.

Shares in LafargeHolcim were trading about SFr39 ($39) on Friday.

Bankers have warned in recent weeks that the rout in commodity prices and global equities was likely to lead to a jump in requests for collateral against loans to wealthy clients. Using borrowings, or margin, allows investors to obtain additional investment capital provided it is backed by some form of collateral — usually in the form of cash or securities. This form of investing is popular among wealthy clients in the Middle East and Russia, one adviser at a major global bank pointed out.

Russia’s economy has been hit hard by global sanctions following its conflict with Ukraine, as well as falling oil and commodity prices. Since the beginning of 2015, the rouble has almost halved in value against the dollar, and inflation is in double digits.

Mr Galchev made his fortune from the cement and construction industry in Russia. Eurocement, in which he owns a controlling stake, is Russia’s largest crushed-rock and aggregates business. He was also a shareholder in Uralkali, one of Russia’s largest fertiliser groups. He began to build a stake in Holcim in 2008, eventually owning 12 per cent of the company.

After the deal with Sberbank last month, Mr Galchev said Eurocement and the Russian lender “enjoy a long-term partnership”. He added: “This deal clearly demonstrates that we can count on receiving support from our financial partner when carrying out the holding’s strategic initiatives.”

Eurocement’s holding had originated from its investment in Switzerland’s Holcim, which completed an industry-transforming deal last year with France’s Lafarge. At the time, Eurocement used its position to hold out from supporting a deal between Holcim and Lafarge until the terms of the deal were renegotiated — something that eventually did take place.

LafargeHolcim, Bank of America and Sberbank declined to comment. Eurocement did not respond to a request for comment sent on Thursday.