Abramovich in £1.8bn sell-off

Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich has sold his 50 per cent stake in Russia's top aluminium company, RusAl, for an estimated £1.8 billion.

Abramovich, who made his billions in Russian oil following the break-up of the Soviet Union, sold his stake to Basic Element, RusAl's other 50 per cent stakeholder.

The sale has been widely rumoured over recent weeks.

The RusAl shareholding was Abramovich's last major industrial asset in Russia. The tycoon has been disposing of assets since soon after the arrest of one of the key shareholders of the oil company Yukos Platon Lebedev early in July.

So far this year, Millhouse Capital, which manages Abramovich's property, has sold its stakes in airline Aerof lot and is in the process of selling his oil company Sibneft.

This move has added to speculation that Abramovich is planning to move his capital abroad.