RU-Center Group

Assets

At the beginning of 2017, the Ru-Center Group included:

• Ru-Center,
• "Recorder P01,"
• "Reggae,"
• "Hosting Center,"
• Spaceweb,
• "Peterhost."

History

2021

Sale of Ru-Center Group LLC to Ru-Web consortium. Investments "

Consortium of private investors Ru-Web LLC . Investments, "led by Proxima Capital Group, acquired 100% of Ru-Center Group LLC (operates on the market under the brands Ru-Center, Registrar P01 and SpaceWeb) from PJSC RBC. This was announced on September 27, 2021 by TAdviser in the Proxima Capital Group. The buyer was determined as part of a tender organized by VTB Capital. The transaction amount is not disclosed.

RBC sold Ru-center. < br > Photo: png.cmtt.space

According to the SPARK-Interfax system, since September 24, Ru-Center Group LLC has been 99% owned by Ru-Web LLC . Investments, "another 1% - at JSC" Regional Network Information Center "(RCIC).

Under the terms of the transaction, in addition to money for 100%, Ru-Center Groups PJSC RBC received a 25 percent stake in Ru-Web LLC. Investments. " The remaining 75% of the company belongs to a consortium of investors led by the investment company Proxima Capital Group, RBC said.

Ru-Center has significant development potential. We share the vision and strategy of the company management and believe in its success. The consortium of investors is ready to attract additional investments in the medium term to implement the company's development strategy. Ru-Center for us is a profitable and promising asset, which, I am sure, will bring stable income to the participants of the consortium, "says Vladimir Tatarchuk, managing partner of Proxima Capital Group.

The representative of Proxima Capital Group also clarified that the transaction was paid from the company's own and borrowed funds.

"Our strategy is to create a market leader. We see niches where we need to go, and are open to proposals for the acquisition of companies and projects that would be complementary to our idea of ​ ​ developing an ecosystem of digital products for small and medium-sized businesses on the Ru-Center platform, "added Vladimir Tatarchuk.

For his part, Nikolai Molibog, General Director of PJSC RBC, noted that the holding is satisfied with the results of the transaction. According to him, the Ru-Center team has shown "excellent results in recent years, which allowed the company to become an attractive object for investment."

We are inspired by the prospects that open up to the company - together with new shareholders, we expect that Ru-Center will become a platform for the further development of the ecosystem in the market of integrated digital services for small and medium-sized businesses, "commented Nikolai Molybog.

As the head of RBC explained, the development of media direction remains an important task of the media group. According to him, the audience and revenue of RBC show steady growth in the traditional activity for RBC - advertising services, including through the development of new projects - paid service RBC Pro, non-advertising areas - events, RBC Trends and other new projects. Funds will be allocated for their development, including as part of the Ru-Center Group transaction, Nikolai Molybog said.^[1]

RBC announced a plan to sell Ru-center. Buyer found

On August 31, 2021, it became known that the holding RBC was selling its Digital Infrastructure for Business segment, the basis of which was hostingprovider Ru-center (Ru-Center Group LLC). This is stated in the report of RBC.

According to the document, in April 2021, the group approved a plan for the sale of this segment and began an active search for a buyer. A preliminary agreement was signed to sell this segment. The buyer's name was not disclosed, the transaction price will be approved until September 20, 2021.

As of August 2021, the size of the net assets of the Digital Infrastructure for Business segment is 4 billion rubles.^[2]

2017: Ru-Center lawsuit to recover 20 million rubles from Panov

In September 2016, Ru-Center filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court against the former general director of the company, Alexander Panov, to recover 20.26 million rubles from him.

The statement of claim states that in December 2012, Ru-Center signed a contract worth 20.26 million rubles. with the Jibb advertising agency for advertising on the site zaycev.net. According to Ru-Center, the contractor did not fulfill the obligations under the contract and did not have contractual relations with the portal zaycev.net. The plaintiff claims that neither the contractor nor third parties had the opportunity to advertise on the said site, and the company itself did not need this contract. In addition, Jibb, which was liquidated, had signs of a one-day firm. The plaintiff insists that these circumstances are grounds for recovering damages from Panov. RBC confirmed the filing of the lawsuit and the essence of the claims.

Panov told RNS that he did not take decisions on concluding an advertising contract, RBC determined the contractor and the price of the contract.

"Ru-Center disputes the contract of 2012, the contractor and the value of which was determined by the shareholders of Ru-Center, that is, RBC. All documentation under this agreement towards Ru-Center was provided by the RBC financial service, "Panov said. He noted that "he considers filing a lawsuit an attempt to put pressure on the victim in the criminal case^[3]

2016

Revenue - 2.06 billion rubles (+ 15 %)

At the end of 2016, the revenue of the Ru-Center group of companies increased by 15% from 1.78 billion to 2.06 billion rubles. The group margin was 45%, and EBITDA was 43%.

Criminal case on the deprivation of Panov and Karetsky shares in one of the companies

On April 29, 2016, the Main Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow opened a criminal case under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale, sanction - imprisonment for up to 10 years) according to the statement of the former shareholder of Bayt-Telecom (managed a data center, controlled by RBC) Alexander Panov about depriving him and Yaroslav ov 25% of the company shares. This is stated in the notification in the criminal case. The decision to institute criminal proceedings states that the value of 25% of BT shares was $13.4 million.

According to Panov, who is familiar with the documents of the investigation, in the circle of persons, which law enforcement agencies will check for involvement in the crime, RBC CEO Nikolai Molibog is included, his first deputy Ekaterina Kruglova, financial director of RBC Igor Selivanov, Deputy General Director of RBC for Technology Alexander Kononenko, former General Director of BT Farida Karimova, the head of the security service of RBC Alexander Zhzhut, the deputy chairman of the board of directors of RBC Derk Sauer and the general director of Reconne LLC Andrei Gordeev. According to Panov, the assets of BT at the time of the start of the investigation belong to the Reconn telecom operator, and the circle of persons whose possible involvement will be checked was indicated in his statement.

The materials in the case were transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs by the Prosecutor General's Office, follows from the response of the supervisory authority to Alexander Panov. The Prosecutor General's Office found that from 2009 to September 2014, Panov and Karetsky each owned 12.5% of the shares of BT CJSC, the remaining 75% belonged to offshore Karuta Investments. RNS has a document signed by Molybog, according to which 75% of Bayte-Telecom as of September 23, 2014 belonged to RBC through offshore Karuta Investments, Gattico Holding, Halvertson Holdings and Pintolexa Holdings. The director of Karuta was Derk Sauer, Panov said.

On August 29, 2014, Farida Karimova, allegedly acting as the sole shareholder of BT, signed and transferred for registration to the bodies of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow decisions on the reorganization of BT CJSC in Invest Project LLC, the dismissal of BT General Director Igor Selivanov and the appointment of himself to this position, as well as the transfer certificate of property from Investment LLC to Project Project-Telec. Then "Invest Project" was attached to LLC "Drok," registered in the Republic of Tatarstan, "at the place of mass registration of legal entities and not carrying out actual activities," the Prosecutor General's Office established.

this regard, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, in accordance with Art. 37 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, inspection materials on the facts of fraudulent actions in relation to property belonging to you (Panov. - RNS) and Karetsky Ya. V., as well as the illegal formation (reorganization) of a legal entity, were sent to the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, "the document says

Panov claims that Karimova liquidated several legal entities that were previously part of RBC.

RBC CEO Nikolai Molybog wrote on his Facebook:

"We have not seen any resolution, we do not know what is written in it, and we do not even know whether RBC or any of RBC's employees are mentioned in this resolution." "We understand that any hint of news about us is now" hot pews, "but let us see this resolution, understand whether it is related to RBC, and then we will give our comments," Molybog wrote

Wave of migration from Ru-Center to Reg.ru

In April 2016, Pavel Gross-Dneprov cited statistics on the number of domains for April and March 2016 for a number of Russian registrars. All of them received some positive number of new registrations. Exception - Ru-Center. This registrar, owned by RBC, lost more than 40,000 domains in March 2016, more than 6,000 more in 5 days of April (note: there are other registrars owned by RBC on the chart, they have normal growth, instead of a dramatic fall). Most of the March registrations fell on REG.RU - schedules of the fall to the Ru-Center, and the growth in the number of registrations in the Reg.ru, actually "mirror" for each other.

Senator asks FAS to check the fact of rising prices for domains in Ru-Center

In March 2016, it became known that a member of the Federation Council Anton Belyakov appealed to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) with a request to check the activities of the largest Russian domain registrar Ru-Center. About this wrote "Parliamentary newspaper."

Belyakov explained that the reason for the appeal was the complaints of Ru-Center customers, who said that since March 31, 2016, the company has been raising prices for extending domains by at least four times.

"Ru-Center, taking advantage of the dominant position in the market, actually put its customers in bonded conditions. At the same time, it remains unclear from what considerations the company's management came from when it decided to increase the prices of its services several times at a time, "Belyakov said

Since March 31, Ru-Center has abolished partner tariffs and introduced a club program instead, under which a fixed fee of 990 rubles to 44.9 thousand rubles per year is provided, depending on the size of the discount. The registrar's partners, who will not enter the club program until the end of the month, will be served at retail rates from March 31. Changes in working conditions with partners led to an increase in the cost of services, noted Roem.ru.

2014

Alexander Panov leaves the company, Nikolai Molybog CEO

In May 2014, Alexander Panov resigned as CEO of Ru-Center. As he himself explained on his Facebook, he had to do this by decision of the shareholders. His place was taken by Nikolai Molybog, General Director of RBC. At the same time, in a standard press release based on the results of the reshuffle, the company does not thank Alexander Panov for the work done and does not note his contribution to the development of the company's business.

According to Panov, Ru-Center performed all the set financial indicators, and in return, in front of the employees, the management of the holding took him out of the office as a criminal.

Renaming to RU-Center Group

The Hosting Community group of companies has been transformed into the RU-Center Group. A large-scale rebranding of the group of companies and all its assets has begun.

2013: Purchase of Reggae Business

In the 3rd quarter of 2013, Hosting Community completed the acquisition of 100% of Reggae Business LLC, which provides services under the brand name Reggi.ru. The company became the third ICANN-accredited registrar in the group and the sixth company providing hosting services.

Also in the third quarter, work continued on expanding the geography of RU-CENTER representative offices in Russia and abroad. In particular, new company offices were opened in Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Petrozavodsk and Tokyo (Japan).

2012: Yaroslav Karetsky left the company

One of the top managers of Hosting Community, Karetsky Yaroslav Vladimirovich left the company at the initiative of the management of RBC holding.

2011

Purchase of Ru-Center for $35 million

In March 2011, it became known that Hosting Community was buying the largest domain name registrar in Runet - ^[4] Ru-Center group ^[4]. As part of the preparation of the deal, Hosting Community managing partner Alexander Panov became the external manager of Ru-Center, and Ru-Center CEO Alexei Lesnikov moved to the post of his adviser. Panov will respect the interests of Hosting Community in the merger process, control financial flows and any significant events of Ru-Center.

$35 million - at this price, former shareholders of Ru-Center sold the company to the Hosting Community group in March 2011, a source close to RBC shareholders said. According to him, this is about half the price discussed before the scandal in the.rf zone. This was confirmed by two sources close to sellers and buyers^[4].

Alexander Panov promises that sellers will receive money by the end of 2011. The revenue of Ru-Center in 2010 amounted to about $20 million, a source familiar with its managers knows.

The agreement on the deal was reached back in 2010, now Hosting Community needs to audit the assets of the acquired company, says Panov. The transaction is planned to be completed by the end of the year, its financial conditions were not disclosed. It is assumed that Hosting Community will become the sole owner of all assets of the Ru-Center group, while the further activities of Hosting Community in the field of domain name registration will be carried out on the basis of Ru-Center.

The scandal with the domain zone. The Russian Federation, in which Ru-Center was involved, did not affect the company's assessment: the parties made a decision on the deal even before it began, Panov and representative of Ru-Center Andrei Vorobyov specify.

For the proceedings in the conflict around Ru-Center, a commission was created from State Duma deputies and representatives of the Internet public. The commission considered that Ru-Center violated the registration rules, and former Deputy Minister of Communications Alexei Soldatov, who was on the council of the CC with the right of veto, lobbied for the interests of the company. However, the question of whether or not to select the domains sold at auctions has not yet been resolved.

Alexander Panov was a member of this commission.

"My position is different from the one that Ru-Center has still occupied: there were violations of accreditation rules by the company, but no facts of monopoly collusion were found," Panov told CNews. "In the near future, as a member of the CC Council, I intend to initiate a meeting and put forward a proposal to resolve the situation." Koleniskov welcomed the emergence of an initiative to overcome the conflict

FAS forces Ru-Center to pay a fine of 239 million rubles

In 2011, the FAS found that Ru-Center conspired with five companies to divide the domain registration market in зоне.рф. The agency then ordered the registrar to return about 239 million rubles to the budget. The case came to the Supreme Arbitration Court, which agreed with the conclusions of the FAS, which found Ru-Center guilty of unfair competition.

2009

Hosting Community includes:

• Ru-Center
• Garant-Park-Telecom (brand R01),
• recorder "Centrohost"
• "Hosting Center,"
• SpaceWeb,
• Peterhost
• Reggi.ru

The group included hosting provider Highway, Users, Arbatek, as well as the leading Ukrainian Internet company Ukraine-Host LLC.

January 19, 2009. Centrohost began direct registration of names in the.COM and.NET domains.

On March 24, 2009, Hosting Center opened public access to domain registration in the.tel zone.

April 1, 2009. R01 registrar starts registration of second level domains in the.TEL domain zone

June 29, 2009. The Hosting Center registered a hundred thousandth domain in the RU zone.

August 15, 2009. Centrohost is moving to the updated domain control panel, offering new services, functions and capabilities.

September 11, 2009. Registrar R01 began providing domain sales service through its own auction.

November 16, 2009. Registrar R01 opens the acceptance of applications for priority registration of domains in the.PF zone.

2008: Accreditation by ICANN

March 7, 2008. Hosting Center Ukraine has registered one hundred thousand domain name in the domain COM.UA.

April 24, 2008. Hosting Center has become a gold partner of Parallels.

April 25, 2008. Registrar R01 has started registering multilingual domains in the.SU.

June 3, 2008. Garant-Park-Telecom is a certified hosting partner of UMI.CMS.

July 09, 2008. The Hosting Center, as the main means of protection against malware and network attacks, has installed ESET NOD32 Business Edition antivirus solution from ESET.

On September 4, 2008, a landmark event took place in the life of the holding - the domain registrar Centrohost, opened in 2005, received accreditation from ICANN Corporation (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - an international non-profit organization that regulates domain name issues), which allowed direct registration of resources in international domains.

September 12, 2008 - Centrohost became the first accredited registrar of the KZ zone in Russia.

October 1, 2008. The company SpaceWeb opened access to the installation of UMI.CMS Free.

October 23, 2008. The number of registered partners has SpaceWeb exceeded 10,000.

November 17, 2008. Hosting Center receives Licenses of the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation for the provision of telematic services (No. 45882 of 17.11.08) and for data communication services, with the exception of data communication services for voice information transmission (No. 45883 of 17.11.08).

November 21, 2008. The R01 registrar begins registering second-level domains in the domain zones:.COM,.ORG,.NET,.BIZ,.INFO,.NAME,.TV,.ME,.MOBI,.ASIA,.US,.IN,.CC,.WS,.BNZ, M.

2007: Ukraine-Khost is part of the holding

Ukraine-Host LLC is part of the Hosting Center.

January 22, 2007. Hosting Center and hosting provider Highway officially announced their merger under the single Hosting Center brand.

September 10, 2007. The Garant-Park-Telecom company obtains the license of the Federal agency on construction and housing and communal services for design of buildings and constructions of the I and II levels of responsibility according to state standard (No. GS-1-99-02-26-0-7729384862-056909-2 of 10.09.07) and also the building license for buildings and constructions of the I and II levels of responsibility according to state standard (No. GS-1-99-02-27-0-7729384862-056908-2 of 10.09.07).

September 14, 2007. To SpaceWeb hosting provider the Federal service on supervision in the sphere of communication grants the license for granting telematic communication services (No. 34401 of 14.09.2007) which was successfully prolonged on September 18, 2009 by license No. 53006.

October 4, 2007. The company SpaceWeb launches its own Jabber server.

November 22, 2007. Joining the Hosting Center of a large Internet provider Arbatek (CJSC "Arbatek").

December 28, 2007. Accreditation by the Internet Development Fund as Domain Name Registrar in the area of.SU. Ability to register domains in both Latin and Cyrillic.

2006

Start Partner Project hosting.mail.ru

February 16, 2006. The company Garant-Park-Telecom receives Licenses of the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation for the provision of telematic services (No. 38850 of 16.02.06) and for the provision of local telephone services (No. 38851 of 16.02.06).

April 11, 2006. Opening of the Hosting Center office in St. Petersburg.

2005

September 5, 2005. The Centrohost domain registrar is open.

December 1, 2005. State registration of Ukraine-Khost LLC as an official registrar in Ukraine.

December 15, 2005. Combining Hosting Center and hosting provider USERS (Golden Gate LLC).

2004

The company PeterHost.Ru was one of the initiators of the creation of the Russian Hosting Providers Association.

2003

May 23, 2003. Garant-Park-Telecom receives licenses from the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation for the provision of data transmission services (No. 263321 of 23.05.03) and for the provision of communication services for the provision of communication channels (No. 26550 of 05.06.03), extended by licenses No. 57884 of 23.05.08 and No. 57885 of 05.06.08, respectively.

September 3, 2003. Garant-Park-Telecom becomes the first independent accredited registrar in Russia under an agreement with the Coordination Center of the national Internet domain.

2002: Creation of "Hosting Center"

April 24, 2002. The official start of the company Hosting Center LLC.

The LGG.ru project becomes the first company to enter the Hosting Center.

Notes