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Russia: Too rich for Forbes' top 100 list

Other News Materials 18 April 2008 20:37 (UTC +04:00)

(dpa) - Moscow is so crowded with billionaires that not all of them would fit into Forbes Russia magazine's 100 richest list.

Despite fortunes of over 1.1 billion dolalrs, ten names did not make the golden 100 list that was tallied to a combined wealth of 522 billion dollars, Russian news agencies reported Friday.

Aluminum magnet Oleg Deripaska, valued at 28.6 billion dollars, grabbed the crown from Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich.

Deripaska, who owns holding company Basic Elements, has seen his capital grow by over 11.8 billion dollars from last year, the magazine said.

Alexei Mordashov, owner of Russia's largest steelmaker Severstal, doubled his wealth from last year to 24.5 billion dollars also cutting out Abramovich and stepping in second.

The flamboyant billionaire Abramovich, more often haunting London then Moscow, slipped to third place with 24.3 billion dollars.

Another steel baron Vladimir Lisin, worth 23.9 billion dollars, took fourth.

"The main fortunes are concentrated now in metallurgy, finance and property," Maxim Kashulinsky, editor-and-chief of Forbes' Russian version, said in a statement.

"After the bankruptcy of Yukos and the strengthening of the state's position in the energy sector, the number of oil and gas billionaires can be counted on one hand," he wrote.

The overall number of Russian billionaires has climbed to 110 from 60 in 2007. 1.1 billion dollars is now needed to make it on the list compared with 660 million dollars a year ago.

With all this wealth living in Moscow, the city overtook New York as the billionaire capital of the world. Forbes' cited the steady dip in US currency for the rise in Moscow's dollar billionaires.

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