print versionManagement company has bought a 99.99% interest in Garant Service. This asset was included in the portfolio formed as part of close-ended mutual fund of risky (venture) investments Finam – Information Technologies (RTS Board: finmit). Thanks to this acquisition the mutual fund gained around 10% of UK-registered Badoo Limited that owns global social networking website Badoo.com. The transaction price equaled RUB 750 mn.
Badoo.com is a multi-lingual global networking website that offers its users the ability to communicate, create photo albums, and search for other people in the system, etc. The project was launched in November 2006 in London and it has already achieved leadership positions in Europe and some Latin American countries. The site already has over 12 mn registered users.
The purchase of a stake in this social networking portal by Finam – Information Technologies was the first step towards promoting this project on the Russian market. The Russian section of Badoo.com will launch operations in the weeks to come. Its objective is to reach leadership positions among Russia-based portals where the social networking segment has achieved the fastest growth. Based on Finam's estimates, registered users within Russian social networking websites soared 5-fold in 2007 and rapid growth is also expected to continue this year.
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