Abramovich Jnr in £3m City venture
The 20-year-old son of Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, has followed in his father’s footsteps by taking a multi-million pound stake in a London-listed firm.
Arkadiy Abramovich has bought a 26% stake in Crosby Asset Management for £3m (€3.4m) through his investment vehicle ARA Capital.
Mr Abramovich, who is expected to go to university in the US next year, took the stake in the AIM-listed company after Irish resources entrepreneur John McKeon and investment banker Ilyas Khan sold some of their assets.
Crosby, based in Hong Kong, focuses on investments in the metals, resources and oil and gas sectors, mostly around South and North America as well as Australia.
Roman Abramovich built up a fortune in Russia’s oil and gas industry that is today estimated at £7.4bn (€8.4bn).
He is the second-richest man living in Britain, according to The Sunday Times Rich List, and the 53rd richest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine.
His son is also understood to be shadowing his father in the sporting world and is looking at buying a stake in the company behind Danish football team FC Copenhagen.
Robert Owen, Crosby chairman who owns 5% of the business, said the board “welcomed” Mr Abramovich as a new “substantial” shareholder.
The original Crosby business was set up in 1984 as a stockbroking firm.
In May 2004, Crosby Capital was admitted to the London Stock Exchange and changed its name to Crosby Asset Management in May 2008. It manages more than $2bn (€1.4bn) worth of assets.
