KIAP’s Corporate and M&A practice team supported the sale by the Banki.ru’s founders of their share in the company. The portal was founded by Philip Ilin-Adaev, his brother Kirill Ilin-Adaev and his spouse Elena Ischeeva, who owned 60% of the business. Another 40% of Banki.ru belongs to the Russia Partners fund. The buyer of the founders' share appeared the Elbrus Capital investment fund in a consortium with another investment fund.
The deal was complicated by tensions between the founders - on the one hand, and the Russia Partners fund, which required the signing a number of additional documents. In his Facebook message about the sale of the business, Philip Ilin-Adaev expressed gratitude to the corporate team of KIAP, the Elbrus Capital fund, and their legal consultant, the Dentons law firm, who “fought for almost a year to rescue [the founders] from captivity.”
Banki.ru is the largest independent financial portal on the Runet, which includes a financial supermarket, an information agency, analytical and rating centers, thematic forums, and interactive services. The monthly audience of Banki.ru exceeds 8 million unique users. The portal was founded in 2005.
At KIAP, on the deal worked: partner Anton Samokhvalov and senior lawyers Ekaterina Spakhova and Roman Suslov.
The KIAP team congratulates the parties of the transaction on the successful closure and expresses gratitude to Philip Ilin-Adaev, Kirill Ilin-Adaev, and Elena Ischeeva for the successful cooperation.