Demyan Kudryavtsev buys 33.3% of Vedomosti from Sanoma
MOSCOW. April 30 (Interfax) - Finnish media holding Sanoma has signed a sale and purchase agreement with Ivania Ltd. for the company's 33.3% stake in Delovoi Standard, which is the publisher of Russia's leading daily financial newspaper Vedomosti.
Additionally, Sanoma has agreed to sell its United Press portfolio of titles to MoscowTimes LLC, Sanoma said in a statement.
Sanoma estimates that it will book at the closing a non-recurring capital gain of around 8 million euro before currency translation adjustment.
The sole owner of Ivania and Moscow Times is Demyan Kudryashev, the former general director of Kommersant Publishing House, Kudryashev told Vedomosti.
"These transactions are a result of the broad strategic review announced by Sanoma in October 2013 to redesign its consumer media operations. This follows the sale agreement of Sanoma's stake in Fashion Press signed in December 2014," Sanoma said.
"We are confident that these iconic titles are in good hands and will continue to develop as some of Russia's leading media titles. At the same time, the agreement to sell these assets is an example of our strategy in action, as we look to focus our resources on our core markets, in which we believe we can create the most value for our shareholders," said Sanoma Group President and CEO Harri-Pekka Kaukonen.
Following this agreement, one title, Grazia, published through Sanoma's joint venture with Mondadori, remains under strategic review.
Sanoma signed a sale and purchase agreement at the end of last year with the owners of Hearst Shkulev Media to divest Sanoma Independent Media's 50% stake in Fashion Press, which publishes popular magazines in Russia such as Cosmopolitan and Esquire, but the government's foreign investment commission has not yet approved the deal.
The FT Group and Dow Jones own the other 66.6% of Vedomosti on an equal footing. A law that comes into effect on January 1, 2016 limits foreign ownership of Russian media organizations to 20%.