Page 22 - bneMag bne_December 2020_20201201

22 I Companies & Markets bne December 2020
Banki.ru founders sell their stake to settle conflict with US investor
East West Digital News in Moscow
An investor consortium led by Russian private equity firms Elbrus Capital and Winter Capital has acquired 60% of Banki.ru, a leading bank and insurance marketplace. The investors are buying all the shares of company founders Philipp and Kirill Ilyin-Adaev and Elena Ishcheeva for an undisclosed amount, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN).
Russia Partners, an affiliate of US private equity firm Siguler Guff & Company, is retaining its 40% stake, which it acquired in 2013.
The deal is settling a conflict between Banki.ru founders and Russia Partners. Philipp Ilyin-Adaev accused Russia Partners’ head Alexander Lupachev of illegitimately attempting to take control of the company: “They were ready to kill half of the business just to evict us,” he wrote in a Facebook post last year.
On its side, Russia Partners said Ilyin-Adaev created a conflict of interest through a contract with a content provider in which he had an interest.
Content supply was outsourced due to a Russian law adopted last year that targeted online information resources with foreign ownership exceeding 20%. This was the case of Banki. ru, since 40% of its shares were owned by Russia Partners.
Founded in 2005, Bank.ru stands as the largest independent platform to select and compare banking and insurance products in Russia. The site claims a monthly audience of 10 million unique users, who send some 500,000 requests for banking and insurance products sent through the platform. The company’s revenue reached 1.5 billion rubles in 2019 (around $23 million at the year’s average exchange rate).
MegaFon invests in fast-growing challenger on Russian online video market
East West Digital News in Moscow
MegaFon, a major Russian mobile phone operator, is to acquire 33.8% of Digital Media Holding LLC (DMH), the parent company of the Start video service, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN).
The amount of the deal was not disclosed, but RBC heard from industry analysts that MegaFon’s stake might have been valued between RUB1.5 and 2.7bn ($19mn to $34mn at today’s exchange rate).
Citing company representatives, the business news and research company reported last week that MegaFon is considering investing up to RUB5bn ($62mn) in the service in the next three years.
Touting itself as “the fastest growing player” on the Russian market, Start claims 1mn paid users. The company has issued
www.bne.eu
more than 30 original films or series, some of which have made available on international platforms Amazon Prime (‘Gold Diggers’) and Netflix (‘Better Than Us’).
MegaFon’s capital injections will allow Start to increase the production of original content and develop related business projects.
The Russian online video market is usually valued at around $300mn for 2019. The main players are domestic platforms ivi, Okko, Amediateka alongside foreign players YouTube, iTunes and Google Play. At the beginning, the business model of Russian online video platform relied primarily on advertising revenues. However, user-generated revenues now exceed advertising revenues.