The Bell: Kudrin may discuss Yandex section with Putin this week

Accounts Chamber Chairman Alexei Kudrin will meet with Vladimir Putin this week to discuss the fate of Yandex’s assets. This is reported The Bell with reference to sources. According to one of them, the meeting could take place on Thursday, November 24.

Another interlocutor of the publication said that Mr. Kudrin will meet with the head of state this or next week. At the meeting, he must agree on the reorganization of the Yandex business, as a result of which its co-founder Arkady Volozh may lose control of the company, and in exchange get the opportunity to develop a number of its businesses abroad.

The head of the Accounts Chamber was involved in the deal, as it requires approval from the Kremlin. According to media reports, since then he has been preparing to move to Yandex. According to information The Bell, by November, the negotiators were able to decide on the general configuration of the future deal, but it has not yet been agreed with the head of state. Shareholders of Yandex’s parent company Yandex NV will also have to vote for the reorganization.

Changes that, according to The Bell, are expected by Yandex:

• Change of parent company. Yandex N. V is registered in the Netherlands, its main shareholder is Mr. Volozh. After the restructuring, the parent company is likely to be registered in Russia.
• Key decisions in the company will be made by a special structure headed by Alexei Kudrin. The same body will include the current top management of Yandex.
• Mr. Kudrin will receive a 5% stake in Yandex’s new parent company.
• The minority shareholders of the new company may include a pool of investors, among which may be the structures of Vladimir Potanin. The minority shareholders of Yandex NV already include the structures of Roman Abramovich and VTB Bank. It is not yet known what will happen to their shares.
• Yandex NV will receive a stake in the new parent company Yandex. The Bell sources did not specify the share.

After making to the EU sanctions list, Arkady Volozh left all posts in Yandex and promised appeal the imposition of sanctions. Summer media wrotethat Alexei Kudrin asked the President of Russia to join the Yandex Board of Directors, and the head of state approved this request. At the same time, Mr. Kudrin himself did not comment on the information, the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov denied.

Daria Erozbek