Book Biz expansion in Russia

The Moscow Times reports that Financier Alexander Mamut is expanding his book business by buying the Inostranka and Kolibri publishing houses, which publish highbrow literature. Mamut, known as having close links to the Kremlin in the 1990s, is a co-owner of major insurer Ingosstrakh and telecoms operator Corbina Telecom, and owns the Bookberry chain of bookstores. His assets also include Attikus Publishing, which controls the Makhaon publishing house that specializes in children’s books. The end result is Attikus Publishing, and the hope is that the new group would become one of the country’s top 10 book publishers with annual turnover of at least $50 million.

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