New York: The financial meltdown may have shaved off billions of dollars from their fortunes, but still billionaires like Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helu and US investor George Soros are looking for investment opportunities.

In its list of ‘Billionaire Vultures´, US business magazine Forbes has named people who are betting big amid the deepening global economic slowdown.

Founder of Saudi Arabia’s MBI International group Mohamed bin Issa Al Jaber, member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahayan, American investors -- Wilbur L Ross Jr, John Catsimatidis and Nicolas Berggruen, along with Mexican telecom tycoon Slim Helu and Soros feature in the list.

“How much these billionaires will make off these opportunistic bets won’t be known possibly for years. But one thing is certain: How and when they choose to spend will be a closely watched vital sign of the stricken economy,” the publication said in an accompanying report.

Other names in the league of ‘Billionaire Vultures´ includes US-based Gerald Ford, Germany’s Gunter Herz and Russia’s Mikhail Prokhorov.

Wilbur Ross, who has a personal fortune of $1.3 billion, had made investments to the tune of $80 million in India’s low-cost carrier SpiceJet in 2008.