***Though "The Donald" shelled out a far lower $41.25 million for it at bankruptcy auction, he says he won't accept a penny under asking. ***
NOT A BAD PROFIT
By Natalya Shurmina in Yekaterinburg, Russia | June 21, 2008 RUSSIANfertiliser billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev is the new owner of Florida's most expensive house after paying US property tycoon Donald Trump $US100 million ($105.34 million) for the waterfront property.
Mr Rybolovlev, whose fortune has soared by $US10 billion in the last year on an unprecedented boom in demand for fertilisers, said the purchase was an investment and he had no plans to swap Moscow life for the Florida coast.
Mr Trump more than doubled his money on the sale of Maison de l'Amitie, a 3000 sq m mansion on Palm Beach bought for $US41.4 million at a bankruptcy auction in 2004, the Wall Street Journal said.
The price, however, was still $US25 million below that at which Trump first offered the house for sale, the paper said.
Russia's billionaires, flush with cash from a decade of economic boom, have snapped up elite property throughout Britain and are also moving into the United States. Among the best known is Roman Abramovich, owner of English soccer club Chelsea.
The number of Russian billionaires now numbers 110, according to Forbes magazine, ranking it second only to the United States in terms of the number of super-rich citizens.
Mr Rybolovlev, 41, made his fortune from the potash mines of the Ural mountains. London-traded stock in his Uralkali mining company has doubled in value this year as high food prices and a severe shortage of soil nutrients has pushed fertiliser prices to record highs.
"For many years my main business interests have been in the potash industry, but I also have many interests in a range of companies all around the world," he said.
"This acquisition is simply an investment in real estate by one of the companies in which I have an interest, and does not represent a decision by me to live in the US - indeed, neither my family nor I have any intention to do so."
Forbes estimates Rybolovlev's fortune at $US13 billion, ranking him Russia's joint 12th-richest man alongside Igor Zyuzin, owner of coal miner and steel maker Mechel.
Uralkali has a market capitalisation of $US33 billion.
