Top Russian Portal Cian Buys Up Regional Player N1.ru

Leading Russian property portal company Cian has signed a deal to acquire regional competitor N1 from media group Hearst Shkulev. The acquisition will strengthen Cian's position in several Russian regions as N1 is an important player in regional cities such as Novosibirsk (where N1 is headquartered), Yekaterinburg and Omsk.

Cian is acquiring a 21-year-old portal company of some 200 employees which boasts, according to its own data, some 2 million monthly users, 50 million page views per month and 1.5 million property listings. The buyout will not have come as a surprise to many in the region, with Cian Director Maxim Melinkov admitting that his company has been keeping an eye on N1 for some time: “We have been watching the N1.ru company for a long time. Now the interests of the buying and selling parties have coincided to a mutual benefit,"

N1's parent company Hearst Shkulev, which in turn is owned by French media giant Lagardere Group, primarily deals in print and online journalism and as recently as November sold its jobs classifieds title Zarplata.ru to HeadHunter Group.