Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov set up a private fund to manage his $17 billion in assets after splitting with fellow billionaire Vladimir Potanin and said he will almost double its value in five years.

The Onexim fund will invest $1 billion in nanotechnology, including hydrogen-powered generation, pharmaceuticals, thermal power and mining, Prokhorov said at a briefing in Moscow today. Onexim wants to buy into projects that will double or triple returns within three years, he said.

``This will be one of the largest private investment funds and we will pour cash into innovative technology,'' he said.

Prokhorov will take a 50 percent stake in every business he has acquired with Potanin over the last 15 years and in 2008 may sell his stake in OAO Norilsk Nickel to Potanin. The split between the two men was ``in part sped up'' by Prokhorov's arrest in January in the Courchevel ski resort in France as part of an investigation into prostitution, Potanin told NTV television in February.

Onexim will hold Prokhorov's 22 percent stake in Norilsk, 22 percent of OAO Polyus Gold, and 50 percent of Interros Holding Co., a company with media, real estate, insurance and banking assets through which Potanin and Prokhorov control their business empire.

Former Norilsk executive Dmitry Razumov will run Prokhorov's holding, while the billionaire will take the position of chairman in charge of strategy.

The billionaire took the Onexim name from OAO Rosbank, controlled by Potanin and Prokhorov, which used to be called Oneximbank, or the United Export and Import Bank.

Source: Bloomberg