Moscow, Russia, 14 September 2018 – Sistema PJSFC (“Sistema” or “the Corporation”) (LSE: SSA, MOEX: AFKS), a publicly traded diversified Russian holding company, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (“RDIF”), the sovereign wealth fund of Russia, have agreed with South Korean firm Macrogen to cooperate to develop the biotechnology sector in the Russian Federation following the Eastern Economic Forum.

Macrogen, whose technology has been supplied to more than 100 countries for the last 20 years, has world-class expertise in the area of genetic analysis, including gene and capillary sequencing, microarray, oligo synthesis and bioinformatics. According the trilateral agreement, Sistema, RDIF and Macrogen plan to jointly create conditions for the practical implementation of these developments in Russia and to conduct further research.

Artem Sirazutdinov, Sistema’s Managing Partner and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Medsi Group of Companies, said:

“Our strategy to grow our healthcare business envisions establishing a broad network of partners and working jointly with other companies in the industry. On the basis of the clinical capacity of Medsi medical chain, owned by Sistema, and leveraging leading international expertise, we are focused on bringing the most advanced biotechnology to Russia, and to improving diagnostics and treatment of socially significant diseases such as cancer. The expertise of Korean R&D centres, which have made considerable progress in the areas of gene and cell-based technologies, will be extremely useful, including in the development of new targeted cancer therapies.“

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), noted:

“RDIF actively deals with industry and strategic investors to attract the most advanced technologies and to implement projects. The area of genetics in science and medicine has already proved not only its prospects, but also its consistency. Together with partners, we see great opportunities for combining practices and effective commercial use of leading global achievements in this field. This allows us to create an infrastructure to improve the quality of life and healthcare of our citizens, as well as for subsequent breakthrough scientific discoveries.“

Kap-seok Yang, CEO of Macrogen Inc, said:

“Sistema leads Russian healthcare market with its affiliate company, Medsi. And Macrogen is proud to be a part in multipartite R&D partnership with Sistema and RDIF. The partnership seems promising for the successful market access in Russia. With years of experience for genetic sequencing and analysis service, Macrogen aims to be the best partner to enhance total quality of life in Russia in terms of precision medicine along with clinical diagnostics and big data. That is only possible through collaboration encompassing from A to Z in healthcare industry.”

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Sistema PJSFC is a publicly-traded diversified Russian holding company serving over 150 million customers in the sectors of telecommunications, children’s goods retail, paper and packaging, healthcare services, agriculture, high technology, banking, real estate, pharmaceuticals and hospitality. The company was founded in 1993. Its revenue in 2017 was RUB 704.6 bn; its total assets equalled RUB 1.1 trn as of 31 December 2017. Sistema’s global depositary receipts are listed under the “SSA” ticker on the London Stock Exchange. Sistema’s ordinary shares are listed under the “AFKS” ticker on the Moscow Exchange. Website: www.sistema.com.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is a Russian sovereign wealth fund established in June 2011 to make equity investments, primarily in Russia, alongside reputable international financial and strategic investors. RDIF acts as a catalyst for direct investment in the Russian economy. RDIF’s management company is based in Moscow. Further information can be found at www.rdif.ru.

Macrogen is a precision medical and biotechnology company with a global reach. Established on June 5, 1997 from the Genome Medical Research Institute of Seoul National University, in February 2000 Macrogen became Korea’s first bio venture company listed on KOSDAQ, Korea’s stock trading platform for technology companies. Its commercialization of technologies and ongoing research and development have earned it the distinguished reputation as Korea’s leading biotechnology company and a global genetic analysis specialist. Website: www.macrogen.com

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