Prokhorov thought about the sale of RBC holding

The ONEXIM group Mikhail Prokhorov is ready to sell the media holding of RBC. On Thursday, August 21, reports Kommersant, citing the heads of unnamed Russian media holdings and business partners of the entrepreneur.

The article clarifies that Prokhorov expects to receive more than $ 250 million for the holding, of which approximately $ 227 million will go to cover the company's debt. Consultations with potential buyers have been ongoing since February, but so far none of them has shown interest in the holding.

According to Kommersant, negotiations were conducted, in particular, with the owner of the SMP Bank Arkady Rotenberg, the owner of the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant Vladimir Lisin, as well as with Gazprom Media holding and three more companies.

The interlocutors of the publication called the ends of the active stage of his political career, as well as his reluctance to invest personal funds in the further development of the holding.
At the same time, in the ANEXIM group itself, the publication said that they did not consider the possibility of selling RBC.

Prokhorov acquired RBC in 2010, having bought 51% of the holding shares from its founders. After that, almost the entire leadership was replaced in RBC. In particular, the founder of Sanoma Independent Media Derck Sauer, the general director-Nikolai Molibog from the United Company Afisha and Rambler, and the chief editor-Elizabeth Ossetian from the Russian Forbes, became the president of the holding.

Now the holding includes several Internet resources, a business newspaper, a magazine, a television channel and a direction of Internet hosting. The capitalization of RBC on the Moscow Exchange is estimated at about one and a half billion rubles, while only in the last year the cost of the holding has reduced by almost half.