Sanoma will sell Russian assets

The Finnish media group Sanoma is negotiating with potential buyers of its Russian assets, including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Men's Health and Vedomosti magazines.

According to Vedomosti with reference to sources close to negotiation participants, Sanoma is going to sell shares in the assets of the Sanoma Independent Media (SIM) publishing house.

Sanoma owns newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television companies in 20 European countries. This year, the company several times reduced the forecast for income and profitability. Sanoma CEO Harri-Pecca Kauconen explained the fall in the poor state of European advertising markets and said that Sanoma would carefully overestimate all its assets.

SIM is one of the largest publishing houses in Russia. Separate data on its revenue are not disclosed, but it is known that in 2012 the total revenue of the companies of Eastern and Central Europe, which are part of the Sanoma media group, decreased by 6.4%, in the first half of 2013 - by 10%.

SIM in half with the American media conflict of Hearst owns the Fest Press Publishing House (publishes Cosmopolitan , Esquire , Harper's Bazaar , etc.), In addition, SIM is fully owned by the Unighted Press ( Men's Health , Womanism Health . National Geographic , etc.), together with the Italian Mondadori, the Finnish company publishes Grazia magazine, along with Dow Jones and FT Group - the newspaper Vedomosti.

Sources of Vedomosti call the main contender for the purchase of SIM company Hearst . In Russia, Hearst has half of another major publishing house - Hearst Shkulev Media ( Elle , Maxim , etc.).

The German Bauer also shows interest in Russian business Sanoma , publishing in Russia such magazines as Joy , “Planet of Women”, “Secrets of Stars”.

PS Sanoma General Director Harry-Peckka Kaustonen today, October 31, admitted that media holding will conduct a strategic reassessment of its divisions in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in Belgium, Vedomosti reports. In particular, the company is ready to sell assets in Russia.

The leadership of Sanoma decided to focus on the markets of the Netherlands, Finland and the unit of educational literature, he explained, and needs free means to develop.