And our sense is that a good portion of the total will be placed with portfolio investors, not in trading accounts.

Long-term, persistent portfolio investors are the fourth group.

Currently, Russian shares are some of the cheapest in the world, as international portfolio investors have shunned the market due to its poor image.

That decision locked in $3.5 billion to $4 billion in capital held by foreign portfolio investors.

But those moves have soured foreign portfolio investors on Yukos stock, which was the most widely held Russian equity in the world.

For portfolio investors, the murkiness of China can still outweigh the peculiar strengths given companies.

First there are portfolio investors like us, who are in for the long haul and whose clients have not abandoned them.

"Most portfolio investors are already heavily invested and don't have a lot of new cash to commit," he said.

But five of those candidates, who ostensibly represent portfolio investors, were nominated by Gazprom management.

Like many value investors, he is a more of a portfolio investor than a short-term trader.