Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov sold shares in Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. and bought into technology investments such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in China, one of his advisers said.

“Chinese companies account for about 70 percent to 80 percent of the portfolio of our foreign Internet investments,” Ivan Streshinskiy, head of Usmanov’s asset-management company USM Advisors LLC, said in an interview on March 14 in Moscow. Most of the investment is in “Alibaba, JD.com and some other companies with great potential,” Streshinskiy said. 

Usmanov, 60, built his Metalloinvest Holding Co. iron ore business by acquisitions and is Russia’s richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He bought a stake of about $100 million in Apple last year and sold it recently this year, according to Streshinskiy. The sale follows a gradual reduction of Usmanov’s stake in Facebook, he said.

“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. China is Russia’s largest trading partner.

Alibaba’s estimated valuation rose to an average of $153 billion last month after the Chinese e-commerce company reported surging sales. The Hangzhou-based company is starting the process for what may be the biggest U.S. initial public offering in two years. Chinese online retailer JD.com may start an IPO next quarter and be valued at more than $20 billion, according to co-owner Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Apple shares have advanced about 23 percent since March 2013, when Usmanov first said he bought the stake. The Cupertino, California-based company’s stock has declined about 6 percent this year. Facebook initially plunged after its IPO in 2012 and has more than doubled in the last 12 months, taking its market value to about $172 billion. 

(Bloomberg)