October 31, 2006 at 21:56Prof-Media picked up a "tramp"
One of the largest Russian media structures, the Prof-Media holding , announces the purchase of a 48.8% stake in Rambler Media . Another 6% of the shares will be acquired after the Russian regulatory authorities give permission for this.
“For Prof-Media, this deal is a key step towards the formation of the largest diversified media holding, which occupies a strong position in the new media segment,” commented the deal Rafael Akopov, CEO of the company. “The Rambler Media shareholding, which will focus exclusively on online business, will be a critical element in the Prof-Media’s online development strategy.”
According to Vladislav Kochetkov, the head of the press service of the Finam investment company, the deal can be estimated at $ 80-100 million. “Now the Rambler’s capitalization is approaching $ 470 million,” says Kochetkov. - However, it is unlikely that someone would buy a company for this amount. We estimate today's deal at $ 80-100 million. In addition, shareholders received about $ 25 million from the Rambler-TV channel. Considering that before the IPO this asset was estimated at twice as much, we can say that Rambler is ready to make significant concessions in comparison with its exchange value. For TV and a controlling stake in the company, the shareholders received up to $ 125 million. An entirely acceptable amount for this kind of asset. ”
“First Mercantile Asset Management Ltd (the largest shareholder of Rambler Media, - approx.) I have been looking for an opportunity to sell the company for a long time, says a source familiar with the situation in the company who asked for anonymity. - Even the figure was called - $ 150 million for a 75% stake in the company, before being listed. For this amount, the shareholders were ready to part with a headache that did not allow them to sleep peacefully. Recently, Rambler has lost its leading position in Runet, moreover, last year it slipped into third place in the top three largest domestic Internet companies, losing second place to Mail.ru. Most likely, after the completion of the transaction, Rambler will leave the managers who carried out the decisions of the previous shareholders, for example, Irina Hoffman, the current general director of the company. Perhaps there will be other “cleanings” in the manual, it all depends on the position of Prof-Media. If Rambler Media is seen as a non-core asset, major changes are hardly to be expected. "Rambler will continue to go with the flow."
Mail.Ru CEO Dmitry Grishin believes that in the near future, Rambler will develop an information line. “There is a feeling that after the purchase of Prof-Media, Rambler should go even deeper into the creation of content and information projects that they have been gravitating towards lately,” Grishin comments on the deal. “I think that in this field they will compete more with RBC than with Mail.Ru or Yandex, so the situation seems more positive to us.”
Rambler Media is one of the largest Russian Internet companies, including entertainment resources, online services, and content delivery services. Rambler search engine is the second most popular search engine on the Russian Internet and is one of the three most popular Russian Internet sites in terms of traffic and the number of pages viewed. According to the company's own data, the main Internet resource Rambler Media, the portal Rambler.Ru , is visited by 21 million people every month, the number of page impressions exceeds 1.5 billion per month. Rambler Media's consolidated revenue in the first half of 2006 amounted to $ 16 million, net profit - about $ 2.5 million.
“For Prof-Media, this deal is a key step towards the formation of the largest diversified media holding, which occupies a strong position in the new media segment,” commented the deal Rafael Akopov, CEO of the company. “The Rambler Media shareholding, which will focus exclusively on online business, will be a critical element in the Prof-Media’s online development strategy.”
According to Vladislav Kochetkov, the head of the press service of the Finam investment company, the deal can be estimated at $ 80-100 million. “Now the Rambler’s capitalization is approaching $ 470 million,” says Kochetkov. - However, it is unlikely that someone would buy a company for this amount. We estimate today's deal at $ 80-100 million. In addition, shareholders received about $ 25 million from the Rambler-TV channel. Considering that before the IPO this asset was estimated at twice as much, we can say that Rambler is ready to make significant concessions in comparison with its exchange value. For TV and a controlling stake in the company, the shareholders received up to $ 125 million. An entirely acceptable amount for this kind of asset. ”
“First Mercantile Asset Management Ltd (the largest shareholder of Rambler Media, - approx.) I have been looking for an opportunity to sell the company for a long time, says a source familiar with the situation in the company who asked for anonymity. - Even the figure was called - $ 150 million for a 75% stake in the company, before being listed. For this amount, the shareholders were ready to part with a headache that did not allow them to sleep peacefully. Recently, Rambler has lost its leading position in Runet, moreover, last year it slipped into third place in the top three largest domestic Internet companies, losing second place to Mail.ru. Most likely, after the completion of the transaction, Rambler will leave the managers who carried out the decisions of the previous shareholders, for example, Irina Hoffman, the current general director of the company. Perhaps there will be other “cleanings” in the manual, it all depends on the position of Prof-Media. If Rambler Media is seen as a non-core asset, major changes are hardly to be expected. "Rambler will continue to go with the flow."
Mail.Ru CEO Dmitry Grishin believes that in the near future, Rambler will develop an information line. “There is a feeling that after the purchase of Prof-Media, Rambler should go even deeper into the creation of content and information projects that they have been gravitating towards lately,” Grishin comments on the deal. “I think that in this field they will compete more with RBC than with Mail.Ru or Yandex, so the situation seems more positive to us.”
Rambler Media is one of the largest Russian Internet companies, including entertainment resources, online services, and content delivery services. Rambler search engine is the second most popular search engine on the Russian Internet and is one of the three most popular Russian Internet sites in terms of traffic and the number of pages viewed. According to the company's own data, the main Internet resource Rambler Media, the portal Rambler.Ru , is visited by 21 million people every month, the number of page impressions exceeds 1.5 billion per month. Rambler Media's consolidated revenue in the first half of 2006 amounted to $ 16 million, net profit - about $ 2.5 million.
