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Billionaire Prokhorov Waits for ‘World Change’ to Buy (Update1)
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By Yuriy Humber and Ellen Pichuk
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who cashed in his biggest asset in April, said he’ll “sit and wait” for the world to change before deciding where to invest the bulk of his fortune.
“We have a basket of assets, no loans, and cash in the accounts,” Prokhorov said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Moscow today. “That means for a time we’re quite safe.”
Prokhorov, ranked by Forbes magazine as Russia’s fifth- richest man with a fortune of $22.6 billion in April, sold 25 percent of OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel later that month, mainly for cash. Oleg Deripaska, Russia’s richest man at the time, paid Prokhorov about $8 billion and made him the second largest shareholder in United Co. Rusal, according to the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers.
Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of the metal, has lost about three-fourths of its value since Prokhorov’s sale to Deripaska. Rusal, the world’s biggest aluminum producer, isn’t listed. Prokhorov’s holding company, Onexim Group, bought half of Renaissance Capital in September for $500 million.
Moscow-based Onexim owns the license to develop Russia’s biggest untapped nickel deposit, about 30 percent of OAO Polyus Gold and has insurance, property and media assets.
The global financial crisis is changing the nature of business, said Prokhorov, 43. The billionaire said he’s prepared to sell assets “quickly,” depending on market conditions. “I have some ideas for the future, but I want to keep them a secret,” Prokhorov said.
“The world is changing,” he said. ”You don’t know who will be alive and what your competitive advantage will be. For the time being, the best thing is to sit and wait.”
Prokhorov said he’s no Warren Buffett, even though he anticipated the crisis and liquidated his most valuable asset before financial turmoil spread outside the U.S.
“I think Warren Buffett is a great man and I am not,” Prokhorov said.
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Last Updated: December 3, 2008 11:55 EST |
