The Barclay brothers, owners of the Ritz Hotel and the Scotsman newspaper, have increased their exposure to new economy businesses by investing £10m in a Swedish wireless technology firm.

David and Frederick Barclay have bought an 11% stake in the Stockholm-based Linq, which is valued at €135m (£81m) and is planning a stock market flotation in the fourth quarter of this year. Linq develops, sells and implements corporate portals and employs 300 people in eight European countries.

The Barclays largely built their fortune through property and hotel investments but have recently taken more of an interest in new technology.

In January the publicity-shy, 65-year-old twins took a £3m stake in Jellyworks, the internet investment vehicle which has since been bought out by investment boutique Shore Capital.

In May they abandoned plans for an £80m flotation of Trigen Holdings, a biotech firm they own that specialises in researching cures for thrombosis.

The brothers base themselves either in a £60m castle on their own private island near Sark or in Monaco. Most of their assets are held through two Channel Island companies, October Corporation and Press Holdings.

Their highest profile assets are the Ritz and the Scotsman and Sunday Business newspapers. The latter include a pan-European business-to-business internet portal.

Last year the Barclays backed retail entrepreneur Philip Green's break-up of the Sears group. In 1997 they sold their Gotaas-Larsen shipping line for £465m, making a £100m profit.

Linq chief executive Michael Mandahl set up a London office in April. The company was founded in 1996 and has doubled both its turnover and the number of employees every year since then. Merrill Lynch forecasts that the worldwide corporate portal market will reach $15 billion by the year 2002.