The creation of a single advertising operator in Russia aroused keen interest among such market players as Shuvalov, Kotlyarenko and Kerimov… It is possible that they have already agreed…
The State Duma adopted in the first reading amendments to the federal law “On Advertising”. They involve the creation of a single operator of digital structures and announcements, which, without bidding, will manage all electronic billboards in the country for 30 years.
Who plans to take over the Russian market of outdoor advertising, the correspondent understood The Moscow Post.
Case is a shield
They want to give control of all advertising screens, as well as classifiers, to one market player. A single operator will have the exclusive right to advertise only through its software on all eligible structures owned by other market players. In addition, the “king” of advertising has the right to charge users for any services rendered using their software. By the way, the amount is not limited by law.
Opinions about the amendments to the law were divided into two camps. The first are the authors and those who support them: they see the initiative as a way to protect billboards and ad services from cyberattacks, thereby indicating the protection of national interests. The second are market participants who are against the bill and believe that all this will lead to monopolization.
Even the Federal Antimonopoly Service believes that the adoption of the law on a single operator carries the risk of abuse by one company against other market participants.
There is also the risk of a “non-competitive procedure” in the project: that is, the operator can bypass the bidding procedure and conclude contracts for up to 30 years. All this looks like a barrier to the development of small and medium-sized businesses.
Gallery Deputy General Director Evgenia Volgina told the publication Lenta.ruthat the bill calls into question the further development of the advertising market. It is already clear that an unjustified monopoly is being created, moreover, for decades to come.
It is noted that more than 60 representatives of advertising industry companies compiled collective letters criticizing the bill and sent them to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin, Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy Maxim Topilin, Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Maxim Shaskolsky, Senator from St. Petersburg Andrey Kutepov.
Out of competition
At the moment, only one company fits the criteria of a single operator of outdoor digital advertising, which are given in the draft law on its creation – Russ Outdoor. That’s just interesting, but how is the protection of national interests connected by a company registered in the British Virgin Islands?
A photo: rusprofile.ru
This company is the largest outdoor advertising operator in the country. In 2020, Russ Outdoor owned 26.7 thousand advertising spaces in 50 Russian cities. The firm has signed 49 government contracts worth 192 million rubles, and revenue for 2021 amounted to 10 billion rubles.
How can you say that the market will be competitive if even now Russ Outdoor receives contracts from its own? In 2020, there was information that 26.4% belonged to VTB, which also acts as the group’s creditor: 9 contracts worth 108 million rubles were concluded with them. Andrey Kostin will not miss its benefits?
A photo: rusprofile.ru
Three from the casket
In February 2022, it became known that Russ Outdoor had a new co-owner. They became the closed-end investment combined fund “Reservaktiv”, which is managed by LLC “KSP Capital Asset Management”. Its key beneficiary is Sergey Kotlyarenko.
The businessman began his career in 1995, then he was a legal assistant in the law office “AML of the Moscow City Bar Association” created by Alexander Mamut, where he met Igor Shuvalov. Recall that the latter is now the chairman of the state corporation VEB.RF.
But that’s not all. In 2007, Shuvalov became a private client of the law firm founded by Kotlyarenko, then a multifamily office was created on the basis of the KSP group of companies, including for the Shuvalov family. Wrote about it Forbes.
Kotlyarenko also had large scandalous assets, behind which, again, Shuvalov could stand. For example, in the market for the collection and disposal of household waste with a volume of tens of billions of dollars a year, I wrote more about this The Moscow Post.
The scandalous senator of the Federation Council from the Republic of Dagestan Suleiman Kerimov may be involved in the story of the “seizure” of the advertising market. He may also be one of the powerful beneficiaries of Russ Outdoor.
The majority co-owner of Russ Outdoor is Stinn LLC. The same company owns CJSC Olimp, the structure of the metropolitan operator Vera-Olimp, as well as the advertising company Laysa. And Grigory Sadoyan is one of the founders of the Stinn company itself, he owns 69.9%, and he has been associated with Suleiman Kerimov more than once.
At one time, firms with huge contracts for outdoor advertising united under the hand of Sadoyan, and apparently Senator Suleiman Kerimov helped them in this.
As a result, it turns out that if the scandalous and not very expedient bill, which is already in doubt, is approved, then most likely the “king” of the feast will be Russ Outdoor. This will lead to the fact that a monopoly is formed, which will “let in” only its own. It is unlikely that large business sharks, millions are spinning around, will let the “small fish” feast on them.
Isn’t this what gentlemen Kotlyarenko, Shuvalov and Kerimov are striving for?