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Axel Springer Russia Up for Sale
Germany’s Axel Springer is negotiating the sale of its Russian subsidiary with several Russian publishing houses, an unofficial source reported. The German company would prefer to exchange the asset for a stake in a major Russian publishing house to gain a stronger foothold in the country.
Alex Springer has offered Finland’s Sanoma WSOY (owner of Independent Media) and Russian Ashet Filipaki Shkulev and UFG Private Equity to buy its Russian subsidiary or exchange stocks, a source informed on the course of talks told Kommersant. Regina von Flemming, director general of Axel Springer Russia, did not confirm the reports but noted that the publishing house has a policy of seeking partnership with local players.
Axel Springer Russia publishes Russian Forbes, Newsweek and ComputerBild. The company’s turnover was estimated at ˆ15 million in 2006.
However, Axel Springer’s profits in Russia are not comparable with those in Europe, Evgeny Abov, a publisher, says. The company’s overseas subsidiaries brought Axel Springer ˆ384 million last year, which is as little as 16 percent of the total revenue.
On top of it, the German publishers in Russia have suffered from politics-tainted scandals such as the murder of Forbes Russia Editor-in-chief Paul Khlebnikov and the publication of a controversial article about Russia’s richest woman Elena Baturina.
Axel Springer is eager to enter the market’s popular segment. The company once negotiated the purchase of the Zhizn tabloid. UFG Private Equity is currently holding 49 percent in the paper.
The publishers also had plans of publishing Bild in Russia. Experts note, though, that launching a publishing project from scratch is too complicated and expensive in Russia. Therefore, a partnership with local players could save Axel Springer a lot of time and effort.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 16, 2007
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