Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov shifts focus to Chinese tech firms

Russia's richest man, Alisher Usmanov, has sold shares in Apple and Facebook and bought into Chinese technology investments such as Alibaba, one of his advisers said.

"Chinese companies account for about 70 to 80 per cent of the portfolio of our foreign internet investments," Ivan Streshinskiy, head of Usmanov's asset management company USM Advisors, said last week. Most of the investment was in "Alibaba, JD.com and some other companies with great potential", he said.

Usmanov has a net worth of US$17.5 billion. He built his Metalloinvest iron ore business by acquisitions. He bought a stake of about US$100 million in Apple last year and sold it recently, Streshinskiy said, adding that the sale followed a gradual reduction of Usmanov's stake in Facebook.

"We hope that our investments in China's internet companies may show the same and even better returns as we had with the American companies," Streshinskiy said.

Apple shares have advanced about 23 per cent since March last year, when Usmanov first said he bought the stake, but have declined about 6 per cent this year.