Russia’s UCP sells almost entire stake in Mail.Ru Group

MOSCOW, Jun 15 (PRIME) -- Russian fund United Capital Partners (UCP) has sold almost the entire stake in Internet company Mail.Ru Group, which it received after withdrawing from the capital of social network VKontakte, the fund’s beneficiary Ilya Shcherbovich said Wednesday.

“The ruble’s devaluation influenced our decision. We sold it without any losses, and earned also a little. Now we have a small stake, worth some U.S. $25 million; our position was much stronger earlier,” Shcherbovich said.

UCP is interested in IT companies, and the fund is ready to consider investments in quoted and in private firms in the industry, he said.

“Traditional telecom is a well-established industry; it shows practically no growth from our point of view, and options for investments are limited. However, we have good expertise in matters of telecom infrastructure, for example, in the business of leasing out operators’ towers. We continue looking into the sector and talking to the market’s players,” Shcherbovich said.

Co-owned by businessman Alisher Usmanov, Mail.Ru Group bought 48.01% in VKontakte in September 2014 from Blesmir Development Ltd. and Palagon Ltd., which are controlled by UCP. As a result, the Internet giant consolidated 100% of the social network.

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