Dutch Yandex NV, parent company of Yandex, nicknamed the 'Russian Google', has announced the sale of its Russian operations to a consortium of private investors.
He made this known in a statement.
The transaction amount amounts to 475 billion rubles (approximately 4.8 billion euros).
Yandex is the main Russian search engine, but it also operates in taxi and delivery services.
The buyer is the investment fund 'Consortium.
Premier', led by Yandex officials in Russia and supported by four private investors, including the Argonaut investment fund, 100% owned by the Russian oil group Lukoil, the statement specifies.
“Once the transaction is concluded, Loukoil Group's stake in Yandex will be approximately 10%,” the oil company said.
Yandex said that after the deal, which still needs to be approved by Yandex NV shareholders and regulatory bodies, Artiom Savinovski will retain his position as CEO, while Yandex's team of Russian managers retains "its right to carry out crucial actions and decisions".
"It is important for us to continue the company's work in our country - Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press - I can only welcome the agreement and the fact that the Russian management will remain in place".
In June 2022, more than three months after the start of the offensive against Ukraine, entrepreneur Arkadi Voloj resigned from the directorship of Yandex, the search engine he co-founded in 1997. In December 2022, his friend of President Putin, Alexeï Kudrin, said he was joining Yandex as a "development consultant".
Faced with numerous international sanctions, the Kremlin seeks to replace the products of Western giants that have left the country, while strengthening control over this strategic sector.
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