The St. Petersburg Times  

Issue #1263 (29), Tuesday, April 17, 2007

BUSINESS

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Secretive Surgutneftegaz Sold Ren-TV Stake to Bank Rossiya

The St. Petersburg Times

MOSCOW — Surgutneftegaz is the Ren-TV television shareholder that sold its stake to Bank Rossiya.

Secretive oil firm Surgut in December sold a 75 percent stake in Media-Invest, which holds 35 percent in Ren-TV, to Bank Rossiya. The bank now has a 70 percent stake in the channel, previously one of the country’s most independent-minded TV stations.

In December, news broke that IK Abros, an affiliate of Bank Rossiya, had bought a stake in Ren-TV, but not whether it had bought it from Surgut or steelmaker Severstal. On Thursday, a Surgut company filing revealed that it had sold the stake.

Abros also owns more than 38 percent of TV firm Petersburg, which is based in St. Petersburg.

Severstal owns 18 percent of Petersburg. The steelmaker also owns 7 percent of Bank Rossiya, which handles the company’s accounts.

Bank Rossiya’s chairman, Yury Kovachuk, is a close friend of President Vladimir Putin.

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