Owners of Russia’s Dozhd TV, Qiwi bid for Sanoma’s assets

MOSCOW, Jul 16 (PRIME) -- Alexander Vinokurov and Boris Kim, investor of TV channel Dozhd and shareholder of e-payment system Qiwi, have bid jointly for Russian assets of Finnish media holding Sanoma, which include leading business daily Vedomosti, a source familiar with the matter told PRIME late Tuesday.

Vinokurov, Kim and Sanoma declined to comment.

Citibank, consultant of the deal, extended bidding book closing to July 25, another source told PRIME. “The extension is connected with interest from new potential buyers. The whole asset attracts the attention of foreign and domestic investors,” the source said.

On July 10, two sources told PRIME that Mikhail Prokhorov’s investment vehicle Onexim again sent an offer to acquire Russian assets of Finland’s Sanoma. Onexim and Sanoma had already had acquisition talks several months ago, but failed to agree on the price.

In Russia, Sanoma owns Sanoma Independent Media, which publishes local versions of Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Harper`s Bazaar, Men`s Health, Woman`s Health, National Geographic, Grazia, and Vedomosti.

Businessman Vadim Goryainov, RBC Chairman Derk Sauer, and co-owner of Hearst Shkulev Media Viktor Shkulev were also named among the competitors for Sanoma’s Russian assets.

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