Pavel Teplukhin has severed his ties with Troika Dialog, the Russian investment firm, selling his five per cent equity stake after having stepped down as group managing director as well as chairman of the board of directors for the group’s asset management business in January this year, RBC daily reports.

Teplukhin, who is a co-founder of Troika Dialog, reportedly sold his five per cent company share at the end of March. According to the publication, which cited several unnamed Troika employees, only the company’s managers can hold its shares under the terms of its partnership.

Market participants reportedly said that Teplukhin has already spent a part of his payoff, investing in property by buying a hotel in Europe. However, he denied the purchase of any hotel when the publication contacted him.

Analysts estimated that Teplukhin’s stake in Troika was five per cent; around 33 per cent of the firm belongs to Standard Bank while the remainder is held by Troika’s managers, including Ruben Vardanyan, the group’s president, who has a 39.2 per cent stake.

Troika Dialog is worth in excess of $1 billion, which means that Terplukhin’s stake was worth $50 million, the report said.

Teplukhin, who assumed leadership of Troika’s asset management business in 1997, was succeeded by Anton Rakhmanov from Renaissance Investment Management.