Succession fears for wealthy Russians

For Alexander Lebedev, hardly a week goes by without a call from a crooked security-services agent or cop angling for a chunk of his $3.4 billion fortune. It's not a lifestyle he wishes for his son, Evgeny.

"Business in our country is like wrestling with bears," Lebedev said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. "I'm not sure you'd want to pass that on to your son - would you?"

At 50, Lebedev is already pondering a dilemma that will confront the entrepreneurs and industrialists who amassed riches in the early years of post-communist Russia: What will become of their billions - sometimes acquired through unorthodox means - and how should they plan their successions?

By 2020, the average age of the nation's top 50 businessmen will exceed 60.

While the wealthy may outlive the average male lifespan of 62, the transfer of assets to the next generation is a pressing issue in a country where property rights can't be guaranteed and corruption ranks on par with Cambodia, Venezuela and Sierra Leone, according to Berlin-based watchdog Transparency International.

Russia ranks 143rd out of 179 countries in the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom, with protection of private property "weak" and the judicial system "corrupt", according to the Washington-based Heritage Foundation.

"The easiest asset to transfer to children will be cash in accounts outside of Russia, such as in Swiss banks, and property," Lebedev said in his Moscow office.

An ex-KGB agent who worked in London as the Soviet Embassy's economic attache, Lebedev owns luxury homes in England, Italy, France and Switzerland.

- BLOOMBERG