Deripaska tumbles off Russian rich list, replaced by Prokhorov
Oleg Deripaska, formerly Russia's richest man, has fallen to eighth place after losing $35bn during the credit crunch, while peer Mikhail Prokhorov has jumped to become the richest Russian.
Prokhorov was worth $14.1bn at the end of last year, $200m more than Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich, who retained the runner-up slot in the sixth-annual ranking by Finans, a Russian rival to Forbes.
Deripaska, the majority shareholder of aluminum producer Rusal, was the first of Russia’s billionaires to fall victim to the credit crunch last year as the country was pushed into recession after a decade of uninterrupted growth.
The number of dollar billionaires more than halved to 49 from 101 as asset prices plunged, according to Finans. The combined fortunes of the richest 49 Russians slid 69% to $151bn, tracking the 67% decline in the benchmark Micex Index of 30 stocks as the global slowdown hobbled demand for energy and metals exports.
Prokhorov, 43, outstripped Vladimir Potanin, 48, for the first time as the former partners unwound their holdings. Prokhorov sold a 25% stake in OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the country’s biggest metals producer, to Deripaska in April for as much as $8bn in cash and 14% of Rusal. Potanin slid to seventh from sixth with $5bn, less than a quarter of his estimated wealth last year.
Yelena Baturina, wife of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, remained the only woman on the list with a fortune of $1bn.
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
reddit
StumbleUpon