The Bell: Vladimir Putin agreed on a deal to sell Yandex

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a deal to sell a controlling stake in Yandex. The candidates were coordinated with the president by the adviser on corporate development of “Yandex” Alexey Kudrin. About it informs publication The Bell (recognized as a foreign agent), citing its own sources.

According to the publication, the buyers may be the head of Interros Vladimir Potanin, co-owner of Lukoil Vagit Alekperov, businessman Alexei Mordashov and the bank VTB.

The list of buyers is not final and may be subject to change. What shares in the company will be occupied by buyers is not reported. The amount of the transaction will be discussed by the board of directors of the Dutch Yandex NV on 22 May during a meeting in Dubai. Representatives of Yandex declined to comment to Vedomosti.

Bloomberg previously informedthat a controlling stake in Yandex (51%) will be bought out for about 600 billion rubles. taking into account a 50% discount, without which foreign companies cannot leave the Russian market. According to the publication, Potanin and Alekperov sent an offer to buy a controlling stake in the company.

November 2022Yandexannounced plans to split the group’s assets. Part of the businesses, including autonomous cars, cloud technologies, etc., will continue to operate in Russia, but their international parts will be separated into independent companies managed by a company in the Netherlands. Yandex NV will eventually withdraw from the shareholders and change its name.

Now the main shareholder of the company is still LASTAR Trust, a family trust of the founder of Yandex, Arkady Volozh. It controls 45.1% of the voting shares and 8.5% of the share capital. 46.5% of voting shares and 87.9% of share capital are in free float.

The restructuring of Yandex will help solve problems with the development of the company’s new technologies abroad and their sale on world markets, and the Russian part of the business will be able to work in Russia, observing Russian laws, says Alexander Volchkov, a consultant on financing and structuring transactions.