31st Jul 2007 07:00
RAMBLER MEDIA TO BECOME MAJORITY SHAREHOLDER IN BEGUN Rambler Media Ltd. ("Rambler" or "the Group"), a leading provider of internetand media services to the global Russian-speaking community, today announcedthat its wholly owned subsidiary, Vieli Enterprises Ltd. ("Vieli"), has signedan agreement to acquire control of contextual advertising company ZAO Begun("Begun"). Vieli will purchase a further 25% stake in Begun and its subsidiariesfor a cash consideration of US$18 million, thus bringing the Group's totalownership in Begun to 50.1%. LLC "Investment Holding Finam", the previousmajority owner of Begun, will retain a 49.9% shareholding in Begun. Begun willbecome a consolidated subsidiary of Rambler upon completion of the acquisition,which is expected in due course after the satisfaction of all conditionsprecedent stipulated in the sale and purchase agreement. A further announcementwill be made upon completion. Rambler previously acquired a 25.1% stake in Begun in 2005 for a purchase priceof US$750,000, at which time the Group also obtained an option to acquirecontrol. Begun is one of Russia's leading search and contextual text basedadvertising platforms with a network of 35,000 individual advertisers and over50,000 partner distribution sites. Rambler.ru is Begun's main traffic generatoraccounting for approximately 20% of Begun's traffic. In 2006, text-based advertising on Russian-language internet sites soared toUS$110 million from US$45 million in 2005 (source: Russian Association ofCommunication Agencies - AKAR), and is expected by Rambler to grow faster thantraditional display advertising in the next few years as more and more smallbusinesses go online. Begun's unaudited IFRS revenues were US$8.7 million for the first four months of2007. Begun's unaudited IFRS earnings before taxes were US$1.8 million for thesame period. For the purposes of Rule 14 of the AIM Rules, the acquisition does not result ina fundamental change to Rambler's business, nor will there be any change in theboard or voting control of Rambler. Mark Opzoomer, Chief Executive Officer of Rambler, commented: "I am pleased toannounce the consolidation of our stake in Begun at an early stage in the growthof the internet advertising market in Russia. The acquisition reflects RamblerMedia's strategy to grow its share of the Russian internet contextualadvertising market and to provide relevant text-based advertising around searchand content verticals. Begun is an excellent business with a very good positionin this highly attractive segment. We look forward to providing together best ofclass contextual advertising solutions to all businesses who wish to reachmillions of internet users in Russia every day. Through this acquisition, whichwe funded from the proceeds of our TV sale, Rambler Media's size and prospectshave been significantly enhanced." Alexey Basov, General Director of Begun further commented: "We are delighted tobe working more closely with Rambler. This is an opportunity to join forces andimprove our service offering for advertisers and for Russian consumers. This newlevel of cooperation between our leading companies should enable us to capture agreater portion of the Russian contextual advertising market." For further information, please visit www.ramblermedia.com or contact: \* TRambler Media Shared Value LimitedMark Opzoomer Nicolas DuperrierTel. +7 495 500 3826 Tel. +44 (0) 20 7321 5010 [email protected] ING Wholesale BankingDaniel Friedman / William MarleTel. +44 (0) 20 7767 1000\* T ABOUT RAMBLER MEDIA Rambler Media is a diversified Russian language media and services group whichoperates or has interests in leading internet properties including the oldestRussian internet portal and search engine 'Rambler.ru', on-line newspaper'Lenta.ru', price comparison website 'Price.ru', internet tracking system'Rambler Top 100', instant messaging service 'Rambler-ICQ', high-tech portal'Ferra.ru', interactive advertising Group 'Index20' and 'contextual advertisingcompany 'Begun'. Rambler Media's shares are traded on AIM, the junior market ofthe London Stock Exchange under the symbol 'RMG'. For more information onRambler Media, visit our corporate website at www.ramblermedia.com. Certain statements within this announcement constitute forward-lookingstatements. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and other factorswhich may cause the actual results, achievements or performance of the Companyto be materially different from any future results, achievements or performanceexpressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and otherfactors include, but are not limited to, general economic and businessconditions, changes in government regulations, and court interpretations of suchregulations, currency fluctuations (including the US$/Rbs rate), competition,and changes in development plans. There can be no assurance that the results andevents contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained in thisannouncement will, in fact, occur. Any forward-looking statements made in thisannouncement represent management's best judgment as to what may occur in thefuture and are correct only as at the date of this announcement. The Companywill not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to theseforward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring afterthe date of this announcement except as required by applicable law or by anyapplicable regulatory authority. Copyright Business Wire 2007Related Shares:
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