Deal of the year: VK and Sber benefited mutually after asset division

The deal of the century took place on Tuesday, August 23rd. VK announced the signing of binding documents, according to which it will receive a 100% stake in the Delivery Club food and grocery delivery service and withdraw from the membership of O2O Holding. The deal is expected to close before the end of this year after receiving a number of regulatory approvals. After that, the delivery of pizzas and rolls is planned to be transferred to Yandex, which says goodbye in favor of VK with Zen and News content platforms. Against the backdrop of these major changes, VK and Sber will remain strategic partners and will continue to cooperate in various areas.

According to Andrey Kiselev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CER.RF, the companies emerged from the joint partnership in a successful way, each focusing on assets that will be beneficial for a particular business. Thus, VK will continue to develop its direction as a major Internet company in Russia and a prominent representative of the media business. And Delivery Club goes to Yandex, continuing the history of the service sector. This will allow the latter to expand the audience and geography of delivery. Sberbank will retain Samokat, a strong asset for the development of e-com.

According to Gennady Azoev, director of the SUM Marketing Institute, a number of established ventures, in particular Samokat, are developing at a rapid pace using the information and technological resources of the bank.

“In this regard, the division of assets between Sberbank and VK, in fact, looks like a win-win solution. Let’s add – at this stage, since the possession of even a specific digital media for a system bank is still a tasty morsel, but, apparently, not today, ”the expert believes.

The decision on the division of assets looks quite logical and natural, and seems the best of all possible, says Kirill Lubnin, Vice President for Development of CROS.

“Judging by how the assets are divided, the companies made a balanced and verified decision from all points of view, while maintaining friendly relations. The bank received the most tidbit asset in the joint venture, we are talking about the Samokat service, this will allow Sber to strengthen the e-commerce segment within the group,” says Lubnin.