Yury Kovalchuk, who already controls REN TV, once considered to be one of Russia's more independent television channels, and media assets in St. Petersburg, will acquire the controlling stake in the daily from Gazprom Media, Kommersant said citing a source in energy giant Gazprom's media division.
The deal will be implemented via the Sogaz insurance company, owned by the bank, under an option agreement with Gazprom Media, which expires in the summer of 2008, Kommersant said. Sogaz could acquire the daily for $25 million, the price Gazprom Media paid for it in 2005. A Gazprom Media source said the deal could be concluded before February, the paper reported.
But Komersant said the bank was more interested in acquiring Izvestia's editorial office building, which is worth more than $150 million along with the land, rather than the publishing business valued at a maximum of $25 million.
Izvestia General Director Pyotr Godlevsky denied comments on the reported deal, saying such questions should be addressed to the shareholders, Kommersant said.
Izvestia, first published in 1917, is ranked seventh among Russia's top 10 newspapers, according to TNS Gallup Media research company data for March-July 2007, Kommersant said. The other 47% and 2% stakes are held by the Mediainvest fund, which is believed to be affiliated with LUKoil, and private individuals respectively.
Real estate experts agree Izvestia's main asset is its 1970 eight-story building with office space of 15,000 sq m, which is adjacent to the 1929 structure, in central Moscow.
"The Izvestia complex is one of the most expensive buildings in Moscow," Blackwood real estate company Vice President Mikhail Gets told Kommersant. "The new building is worth at least $150 million."
The paper also cited Vladimir Sungorkin, head of the Komsomolskaya Pravda popular tabloid, as saying that Izvestia's receipts, excluding earnings from office space leasing and advertising, was $10-$15 million in 2006. "Its publishing business could be valued at $20-$25 million plus the brand name."
Rossiya bank, said to be run by Putin associates, is among Russia's top 50 banks. According to SmartMoney, former bank managers and co-owners at the St. Petersburg-based bank were famously headhunted for top government jobs and posts in state-run companies after Putin was elected president.
