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Sberbank (SBER)
Sberbank and Rambler Group signed legally binding documents to create
partnership
23-Apr-2019 / 21:09 CET/CEST
Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement that contains inside information
according to REGULATION (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR), transmitted by EQS Group.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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. +7 495 957-57-21
media@sberbank.ru
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: www.sberbank.com [1] (Sberbank Group
website), www.sberbank.ru [2].
Rambler Group
Aleksandr Dmitriev
Head of External Communications
+7-915-058-5257
Aleksandr.dmitriev@rambler-co.ru
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.
ISIN: US80585Y3080, RU0009029540, RU0009029557, US80585Y4070
Category Code: MSCH
TIDM: SBER
LEI Code: 549300WE6TAF5EEWQS81
OAM Categories: 2.2. Inside information
Sequence No.: 8312
EQS News ID: 802601
End of Announcement EQS News Service
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 23, 2019 15:09 ET (19:09 GMT)
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