The founder of Alfa Group Mikhail Fridman is recognized as the businessman of the year by the version of the Russian version of Forbes.
The entrepreneur was able to enter the leadership position with a record investment for Russian business. In 2017, Friedman invested more than $ 5 billion in foreign companies, Interfax reported.
Holding LetterOne, one of the founders of which is Friedman, bought the British healthy food chain Holland & Barrett for 1.77 billion pounds in the outgoing year. The businessman also invested $ 3 billion in a fund that he bought two American companies - medical Parexel and bakery BakeMark.
Five years ago, Forbes already chose Mikhail Fridman as a businessman of the year. At that time, the publication highly appreciated his deal to sell 50% of TNK-BP shares to Rosneft. The price of the issue was $ 28 billion.
The largest Russian assets of Friedman are Alfa Bank, to which Forbes predicts profit growth in 2018, X5 Retail Group, whose shares have increased by almost 20% since the beginning of the year, and PJSC VimpelCom.
In 2015, in the list of 200 richest businessmen of Russia, compiled by the Russian Forbes, Fridman took the second place. At that time, his fortune was estimated at $ 14.6 billion. The businessman has Russian and Israeli citizenship, but lives in London.