Sponsors queue up to sponsor Sochi Olympics

Four companies representing banking and tele-communications are in the running to sponsor the winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.

The organising committee has finished taking applications from potential sponsors in these sectors. Mobile TeleSystems, Vympelcom, Comstar and BIN Bank have all applied to invest in the games.

The winners of the tender will be announced in February.

The sponsors will be chosen from companies representing gas, oil, metal industries. The fashion industry will also be represented by firms producing clothing and shoes.

Financial firms in the running to be sponsors include Sberbank, Rostelecom, VTB and Gazprombank, the Kommersant business daily reports.

Companies are expected to cough up between 100 and 150 million US dollars for a general sponsorship package. According to Vlas Larkin, the Russian Sports Consultancy, this sum is comparable to the price of sponsorship package for the summer Olympics in London 2012.