Vladimir Gusinsky has ended his career as a minority shareholder in the media companies he created. Gazprom is buying his shares, which had been under arrest for several months. Together with the debts of these companies to the Media-Most holding. Observers believe that there is no point in delaying the sale of media assets to the gas monopoly any longer.

The parties to the deal agreed to complete non-disclosure of the details: even the list of assets sold is officially unknown. But, according to Vedomosti, we are talking about blocking stakes in 25 companies, including 30.5% of the NTV television company, 45.5% of TNT shares, 25% of the shares of the 7 Dney publishing house, 50% minus one share of a number of regional companies of Media-Most, etc. A source familiar with some details of the negotiations told Vedomosti that the bidding began with amounts of $100 million and $200 million, and in the end the parties agreed on approximately $150 million. This amount, according to the source, includes the repayment of the debts of the companies being sold to Gusinsky's holding company, Media-Most. In March, the debts of 25 companies to Media-Most amounted to approximately $177 million. However, the parties did not disclose the amount of the bills that will be offset as a result of the deal announced yesterday.

Oleg Bystranov, deputy director of Altium Capital, a bank specializing in media and retail trade, believes that Gusinsky's shares and the companies' debts to him cost Gazprom $80-95 million, excluding radio and small regional assets.

Now, according to market participants, it can be expected that the process of preparing Gazprom-Media for sale will proceed significantly faster. Gazprom Chairman of the Management Board Alexey Miller said yesterday: "We hope that the consolidation of share capital creates more favorable conditions for further negotiations with potential investors."

The question of the terms of the sale of Gazprom-Media has been brought up at the Gazprom board of directors more than once, but each time it was postponed. Now a new valuation of assets will have to be conducted, taking into account the latest acquisitions. In early 2002, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein already assessed the company. The results of that valuation are still kept secret, but at that time sources close to Gazprom named the sum of $500 million, which the concern intended to receive (taking into account debts to Gazprom in the amount of approximately $200 million).

Analysts believe that the deal announced yesterday increases primarily not the value of Gazprom-Media, but the company's investment attractiveness. "It is important that Gazprom-Media managed to assemble a package, and now they can act as a single seller," Viktor Kolomiets, head of the information and analytical department of the Video-International agency, told Vedomosti. "The increase in the company's capitalization next season will depend much more on its media structure and program policy."

Altium Capital's Bystranov says the same thing. "This deal eliminates a non-constructive shareholder," he says. "Gusinsky's stakes in these companies allowed him to block many important decisions, such as major transactions or additional issues."

Gazprom was not the only one who laid claim to Gusinsky's shares. At the beginning of the year, the Moscow government wanted to receive them in exchange for Media-Most's promissory notes worth about $215 million. However, in April, the Prosecutor General's Office succeeded in seizing these shares - according to a source in the Prosecutor General's Office, in connection with the case of Gusinsky's accusation of fraud. The beginning of negotiations between Gazprom and Gusinsky regarding the latter's shares occurred at about the same time.

"When Gazprom began negotiations with Gusinsky, he informed us about this," Sergei Pakhomov, head of Moskomzaim, told Vedomosti. "We helped these negotiations, or rather, we did not interfere. Now, in order for the deal to be completed, the seizure of these shares must be lifted, if this has not been done yet." A source familiar with the situation says that "most likely, the legal risks were also taken into account in the price of the deal."

And in a few more weeks, according to Pakhomov, Gazprom and the Moscow government will have to agree on the terms under which Media-Most's bills will be repaid. Pakhomov declined to name any parameters for repaying this debt.

Gusinsky parted ways with the media