Russian businessman Konstantin Nikolaev has an estimated net worth of $1.35 billion as of March 2013 according to Forbes. Nikolaev acquired most of his net worth from his investments on ports and railway transport.

Konstantin Nikolaev is one of the owners of N-Trans Group which is a railway and port operating company.  His co-owners are his fellow billionaires Nikita Mishin and Andrei Filatov. In 2011, the trio became instrumental in making Global Ports Investments public for $500 million. Global Ports Investments is considered as one of the largest port operators in Russia. In October 2012, 37.5% of Global Ports Investments' stakes was sold to A.P. Moller-Maersk subsidiary for $863 million.

A native of Ukraine, Konstantin Nikolaev is a graduate of Moscow State University. Eventually, he collaborated with Alexei Mordashov, Filatov and Mishin which later led to the creation of  Severstaltrans. Eventually, Mordashov relinquished his shares which the trio bought. They renamed the company to N-Trans.