Kommersant, No. 225, December 7, 2001

Media holding RosBusinessConsulting (RBC) is planning to float 17% of its shares on the Russian market (the RTS and MICEX exchanges) before the end of March 2002. RBC placed its convertible bonds worth $5m during a road show in Switzerland last week that was held under the framework of the initial flotation of its shares. These bonds will be converted into part of RBC's shares that are intended for the IPO. The RBC board reserved another 10% of shares for upcoming acquisitions and corporate purposes The current management of the company also reserved the right to sell no more than 8% of its shares not earlier than in 6 months after the IPO. The company is going to invest these earnings into the establishment of a new business television channel, similar to CNBC or Bloomberg. In addition, these earnings will be used for purchases of several small companies working on the Russian IT market. Media and IT business connected with the development and introduction of IT solutions are the two main sources of RBC revenues. The share of the first source in the company's revenues is 54.6 % and the second - 42.9%. The total volume of RBC revenues, according to RBC General Director Yury Rovensky, will amount to more than $16m in 2001 (and it was $8m last year). The company's cost-effectiveness is expected to reach 36% this year as compared to 30% in 2000. Mr. Rovensky was quoted as saying that both directions of the company's business are profitable and there is no cross-subsidies between them. RBC revenues from Internet services will reach no more than $0.5m this year.