According to Forbes, Avito, a classified advertisements online service, is negotiating the purchase of the real estate marketplace CIAN.

The deal is currently pending at the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), while the regulator received the notification this summer. Then, FAS sent a questionnaire to market participants with questions about business, shares, pricing in the market.

Avito is considering the acquisition of both the entire business of CIAN or a share of the business in cities with a population up to one million. If the deal is closed, Avito's share in the segment of real estate ads could grow from 40% to 62.2%.

Avito's share of the online classified real estate market in the apartment segment is 40%, while CIAN follows with 22.2%. The third place with a share of 13.8% is taken by Youla, as of April 2021.

Product cards

CIAN, Avito, Youla

Earlier it was reported that CIAN plans to go public in the fall of this year and place securities in the amount of $300-400 million.

Russia's top classifieds service Avito is the fifth-largest Russian internet company, currently worth around $5 billion, according to Forbes. In 2019 South African internet conglomerate Naspers took full control of the company with a $1.16 billion investment.

Original (in Russia)