MOSCOW-Russian paging operator Multi-Page and Seattle-based Segol RadioPAGE Inc., which operates a network in Russia, merged at the end of January in a move seen as heralding the impending consolidation of the country’s fragmented paging industry.
Multi-Page will merge into RadioPAGE, which combined will command the largest paging subscriber base in the Moscow region. The RadioPAGE networks in Moscow currently serve 25,000 subscribers. Multi-Page serves an additional 15,000 people.
Under the terms of the agreement, RadioPAGE will create a subsidiary called EnergoNET-which will manage all Russian operations of the company-through a multimillion dollar cash infusion, the exact level of which was not disclosed.
“From a purely financial basis, the deal supplies the funds to continue our ambitious growth program in Moscow and Russia’s numerous other regions,” said Charles Boensch, president of EnergoNET. “Setting up a Russian manufacturing activity, expanding the paging business and implementing new technologies doesn’t come cheap, but we’re confident in the return of investment.”
RadioPAGE is a privately held U.S.-based company that began paging operations in Moscow in 1993. The company also operates networks in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Minsk, Belarus, and has expressed a willingness to aggressively explore further acquisition or merger opportunities with its Russian paging competitors. Multi-Page is a closed joint stock company.
