There must be something that billionaire investor Alisher Usmanov sees in Chinese technology companies that he decided to sell his Apple and Facebook shares to focus on investing in China.

Usmanov, who owns asset-management firm USM Advisors LLC, has sold his entire stake in Apple Inc this year after acquiring it for about US$100 million last year. He is also gradually reducing his stake in Facebook.

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Ivan Streshinskiy, USM Advisors head, said Chinese technology companies now account for nearly 80 percent of the total portfolio of USM's foreign Internet investments and the firm continues to scout for more promising Chinese IT firms to invest into.

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba is Usmanov's new favorite, with JD.com, one of the largest business-to-consumer online retailers in China, coming in at second place.

Usmanov, Russia's richest person, is hoping that USM's investment in China's technology giants will yield similar or even better returns as it had with Apple Inc and Facebook.

Now 60 years old, Usmanov holds about 10 percent of Facebook, which he bought when the company was valued at between US$6 billion to US$10 billion. He also owns Metalloinvest Holding Co, a Russian mining and metallurgy company. Metalloinvest Holding Co specializes in the manufacture of steel.

His decision to invest in China and give up stakes in US companies could bear high results as Alibaba is now estimated to be worth US$153 billion and could even be worth more when it finalizes its US initial public officer (IPO), the biggest in America in two years, experts said.