MOSCOW, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Russia's Profmedia said on Thursday it had increased its stake in Internet company Rambler Media to 75 percent after buying out minority shareholders at a 20 percent premium to the market.
Profmedia launched the buyout offer on Wednesday and said it could eventually delist Rambler, the only listed Russian Internet firm, from the AIM junior market on the London Stock Exchange.
The price was set at $6 per share, up 20 percent on Wednesday's closing price, Profmedia said on Thursday.
"Rambler is losing Internet search market share and its prospects are unclear, this is why for some shareholders it was a good exit opportunity," Uralsib analyst Konstantin Belov said.
Rambler Media, owner of Russian search engine www.rambler.ru, saw its net loss widen to $2.1 million in the first half of 2009, from $0.5 million a year ago, as advertising revenue declined.
"Taking into account a decrease in free float, weakening financial results and the prospect of delisting, it was necessary to use the chance to sell the shares with a significant premium to the market," a source with a Russian investment company, which owned a tiny stake in Rambler, said.
As a result of the offer, Profmedia, which previously owned 54.54 percent of Rambler, acquired 3.15 million shares.
ING Bank, its broker and adviser for the share purchase, bought 2 million shares, or 13.03 percent, and will re-sell them to Profmedia, subject to regulatory approvals, taking Profmedia's stake to 88 percent.
Among Rambler's biggest institutional investors with stakes of more than 2 percent were T.Rowe Price International Inc, SEB Private Bank, HQ Bank AB, Capital Research Global Investors and Pioneer Pekao Investment Management Company.
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova, Anastasia Teterevleva and Olga Popova; editing by Simon Jessop) Keywords: RAMBLER BUYOUT/
(maria.kiselyova@reuters.com, +7 495 775 12 42, Reuters Messaging: maria.kiselyova.reuters.com@reuters.net)
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