​Bonnier decreases ownership in Russia

Bonnier Business Press has entered into two separate agreements regarding the divestments of the majority stake in its Russian businesses. These are Delovoy Peterburg, the leading business paper in the Saint Petersburg area, and the news site Fontanka.ru.

The Saint Petersburg-based investment company Fort Group acquires the majority stake in Delovoy Peterburg. Bonnier remains as minority owner, with 20 percent of the shares, the cap mandated by the Russian law that limits foreign ownership of Russian media.

In Fontanka.ru, Bonnier's majority stake is acquired by the founders, who have remained in key positions and as minority owners ever since Bonnier acquired 51 percent of Fontanka in April 2013. 

Anders Eriksson, Business Area Head of Bonnier Business to Business:

”We are pleased to have been able to complete these two agreements. We are also pleased that the buyer, in the case of Delovoy, is a company that we know through previous partnerships, and in the case of Fontanka, the very founders of the business. We have always been committed to the editorial independence and the long-term development of our Russian media. That is why we have been eager to stay in the Russian market, even if the shape and form of our market presence and ownership has been limited severly by the new legislation.”