Sberbank and Rambler Group creating leader of Russia's media and entertainment market

 

23 April 2019, Moscow - Sberbank has decided to invest in Rambler Group in order to create a leader of the Russian media and entertainment market. The parties have signed legally binding documents. The digital products and services of Rambler Group will be integrated into Sberbank's ecosystem. Sberbank will participate by investing in the capital of Rambler Group (cash-in). The current shareholders of Rambler Group will not receive any proceeds as a result of the deal.

 

Sberbank will have a 46.5% in Rambler Group. The existing shareholders of Rambler Group - A&NN and Era Capital - will have stakes of 46.5% and 7%, respectively. The company will be managed by Board of directors with three representatives each from Sberbank and A&NN, and one representative from Era Capital.

 

Thanks to this partnership, Sberbank's ecosystem will feature the services and brands of Rambler Group, including Okko, one of the most popular and fastest growing Russian online cinemas, Moscow's Khudozhestvenny Cinema, and also more than 30 popular resources and services of the Runet, such as Gazeta.ru, Lenta.ru, Afisha.ru, Championat.ru, Rambler.ru and Rambler.Kassa and others. Rambler Group's digital assets currently have a monthly audience of 56 mln unique users.

 

The Cinema Park and Formula Kino offline cinema chains, which are owned by A&NN and Era Capital, will not be part of the company, but will closely cooperate with it as part of an operational partnership. This will be an additional factor that increases client loyalty.

 

Partnership with Rambler Group will boost the development of Sberbank's ecosystem and populate it with products that clients engage with on a daily basis and significantly increase their loyalty. Sberbank Group will also become one of the market leaders in terms of aggregate visits to its digital platforms. Under the agreements, funds invested by Sberbank will be used exclusively to develop digital services, especially technological platforms. In addition, part of the proceeds will be used to fully repay the loans held by Rambler Group's assets within the scope of this transaction.

 

The deal is expected to close in Q3 2019 after anti-monopoly clearance and fulfillment of conditions precedent.

 

Herman Gref, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank:

"This is a landmark deal, not only for us, but also for the entire Russian media market. Rambler Group Mediaholding's digital resources are used by more than nine million Russians every day. We are pleased to enrich Sberbank's ecosystem with a unique combination of movies, content, news and other services. I am certain that our partnership will set a new standard for the Russian media market in terms of quality of content, formats for its consumption and technology that is used."

 

Alexander Mamut, Chairman of the Management Committee of Rambler Group:

"Partnership with such a player that holds leading positions in a number of sectors of the Russian economy is one of the most important components of Rambler Group's strategy. Broadening our cooperation with Sberbank will combine, under a single ecosystem, the capabilities of the leader of the financial sector and the largest participant of the media and entertainment industry. This will allow us to offer a completely new user experience, which will lead to a bigger client base and higher user loyalty."

 

# # #

 

Sberbank

Julia Emm

Press Office  

Tel. 1

 

Sberbank is Russia's largest bank and a leading global financial institution. Sberbank holds almost one third of aggregate Russian banking sector assets, it is the key lender to the national economy and the biggest deposit taker in Russia. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is the founder and principal shareholder of Sberbank owning 50% of the Bank's authorised capital plus one voting share, with the remaining 50% held by domestic and international investors. Sberbank has more than 145 million customers in 22 countries. Sberbank has the largest distribution network in Russia with almost 15,000 branches, and its international operations include UK, US, CIS, Central and Eastern Europe, India, China, Turkey and other countries.

 

The Bank holds the general banking licence No.1481 issued by the Bank of Russia. Official websites of the Bank:  (Sberbank Group website), .

 

 

 

Rambler Group

Aleksandr Dmitriev

Head of External Communications

 

Rambler Group is one of the leading companies in the media and entertainment sector in Russia. The Group mainly specializes in digital media, online and offline cinemas.   Rambler Group media holding uniting leading web editions such as Lenta.ru, Gazeta.ru, Afisha.ru, Championat.com and Rambler.ru, has the leading position in Russia in terms of monthly audience, which is more than 50 million people.

 

Okko online cinema is one of the largest Russian VoD services, leading* in the field of fee-based monetization model. Okko's monthly audience totals 1.83 million people. The service includes about 35 thousand content units. Okko's turnover in 2018 was 2,5 billion roubles

 

Cinema Park and Formula Kino United Chain is the largest Russian cinema operator. The United Chain owns 75 cinemas in 29 Russian cities. Currently, the cinema operator has more than 630 active halls, which is practically every 7th hall in Russia.