Buyer Found for Kommersant
// It's Alisher Usmanov
Co-owner of Metalloinvest Alisher Usmanov has acquired ZAO Kommersant Publishing House. That transaction was the largest ever on the Russian publishing market at $300 million.
General director of Kommersant Publishing House Demyan Kudryavtsev confirmed that 100 percent of the stock in the company had been purchased by structures connected with Usmanov. The deal will be finalized within the next two days. “Mr. Usmanov emphasized that he wants the publishing house to be profitable and develop and he doesn't intend to interfere in editorial policy,” Kudryavtsev said. He commented concerning the reason for the sale of the company that “Badri Patarkatsishvili is a businessman and they offered him a good price for it.”
Kudryavtsev declined to name the value of the deal, but Usmanov told Kommersant that he bought the company for its market price. “The market price for the publishing house, as I see it, is about $200 million,” he said. Media experts agree with that estimate, however one Kommersant source clamed that the value of the deal was about $300 million. At the beginning of April, Patarkatsishvili told Interfax news agency that Kommersant Publishing House could cost more than $350 million. The deal is the largest ever on the Russian media market in any case, the previous record being held by Finnish Sanoma SWOY's purchase of Independent Media for $185 million.
Kommersant Publishing House publishes the eponymous newspaper and Vlast and Dengi magazines and owns 12 regional companies, ZAO Kommersant Income Press, ZAO Molotok Publishing House and OOO Kommersant Ukraine. Its total for 2005 amounted to $64 million, of which $13.1 million was net profit. Proceeds for 2006 are expected to reach $70.4 million, with $15 million in net profit.
Market insiders say that the publishing house will be an instrument of influence for Usmanov. “That instrument can be used for political influence or lobbying his business interests, including fighting with competitors,” commented Ruslan Tagiev, director of media research for TNS Gallup Media.
There are also suggestions that the authorities are behind the deal. “They let Alisher Usmanov do business freely in Russia,” Pavel Gusev, general director of Moskovsky Komsomolets Publishing House noted. “Therefore, he is connected to the authorities in one way or another. And this deal testifies to the degree of trust the authorities have in him.” General director of Ashet Filipaki Shkulev Publishing House Viktor Shkulev recalled that Usmanov is the general director of Gazprominvestholding as well as the head of the Metalloinvest holding. “Today,” he commented, “it was important for the state to pry Kommersant from the hands of its former owner and transfer it to someone it will be more comfortable for them to work with.”
Alisher Usmanov is the general director of OOO Gazprominvestholding, the subsidiary of Gazprom that manages its debts, and co-owner of Metalloinvest, which unites the Mikhailovsky mining enterprise, Uralskaya Steel and Ormeto. By the end of the year, the assets of Oskolsky and Lebedinsky plants will be transferred to it as well. The metallurgy assets of Usmanov and his partners, Vasily Anisimov and State Duma member Andrey Skoch, are worth between $10 million and $12 million.
Usmanov denies that he bought Kommersant at the request of the authorities. “This is my personal deal, my personal investments,” Usmanov said. “No one asked me to buy the publisher, although I should say that my purchase of it was not against the wishes f the authorities. The media business has always interested me and I decided to try to do it.”
Some of those on the market say that Usmanov has taken advantage of a good chance to diversify his business. “He has acquired one of the largest publishing houses, fourth or fifth by turnover, noted general director of Prof-Media Rafael Akopov, “and one that is rather transparent for the market. If Usmanov will be able to develop the business, or not spoil it as an investor, with the growing media market, it looks like a logical investment.” Usmanov confirms that. “I am completely satisfied with the income of the publisher and think that it will be worth it to invest funds in it,” he said.
Yulia Kulakova, Maria Cherkasova
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 31, 2006
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