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RUSSIA'S ECONOMY

Yandex.Taxi and Uber notify Moscow authorities about companies’ merger

Yandex.Taxi and Uber announced earlier that the companies agreed to combine their businesses in Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan

© Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS

MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/. Yandex.Taxi and Uber notified Moscow authorities about the companies’ merger, supervising agencies are preparing to give an opinion within a few months, Deputy Head of the Moscow Department of Transport and Development of Road and Transport Infrastructure Dmitry Pronin told reporters.

"Our colleagues have notified us that this deal is within the control zone of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). As far as we know, within a few months FAS will give an opinion on the possibility of merger," he said answering the question from TASS.

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According to Pronin, after the merger of companies, nothing will change for passengers - cars can be ordered through both companies’ applications. He also noted that the requirements of the Department of Transportation for the work of taxi companies and taxi-aggregators in the territory of Moscow will remain the same, despite the change in the form of ownership of large companies.

Yandex.Taxi and Uber announced earlier that the companies agreed to combine their businesses in Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan.

According to the report from Yandex, both Yandex.Taxi and Uber app will operate as before, driver apps, on the other hand, will be transitioned to a unified platform. "This combined driver platform will significantly increase the number of available cars, reduce passenger wait time, and boost vehicle utilization. Drivers will be able to perform more trips per hour while passengers will continue to enjoy affordable prices," the company said.

The new company will also operate the UberEATS service in the region.

Uber will invest $225 mln and Yandex will invest $100 mln into the joint venture, valuing it at $3.725 bln on a post-money basis. "On a pro forma basis, Yandex will own 59.3% of the merged company, Uber will own 36.6%, and employees will own 4.1%," Yandex said.

Yandex does not rule out the initial public offering (IPO) for the new Yandex.Taxi and Uber and company, Yandex press service told TASS. "We do not rule it out," the press service said.

The transaction is still subject to regulatory approvals and is scheduled to close in the Q4 2017.

The two teams will be integrated together and the current CEO of Yandex.Taxi Tigran Khudaverdyan, CEO of Yandex.Taxi, will serve as the CEO.

Uber Communications Director in Russia and the CIS Irina Gushchina said earlier that Yandex.Taxi and Uber plan to apply to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) with a request on the companies’ business merger in the coming days.

Head of FAS Igor Artemyev said earlier that combining Yandex.Taxi and Uber taxi businesses might present a threat restricting competition in the market. "We have only heard about it today, and I have learned about it three hours ago. We have an idea - we have three main aggregators and if two of them are going to merge, then this is, of course, a threat to the market. A threat to competition, undoubtedly, is present here," Artemyev said.

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Official hand-over ceremony of 2024 Olympic Flame kicks off in Athens

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Athens hold official hand-over ceremony of 2024 Olympic Flame to France

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Polish leader cautions NATO allies against provoking Russia

Andrzej Duda slammed the reported instances of Russian missiles entering Poland's airspace as "a Russian provocation"

Financial watchdog blacklists I/We Sergey Furgal movement as extremist

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Istanbul accords could have stopped hostilities in Ukraine — German newspaper

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SCO expects Belarus to join the organization very soon — Shoigu

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Erdogan’s May 9 visit to US postponed to more convenient date — Foreign Ministry

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Alrosa may leave Catoca project in Angola — Finance Ministry

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International cooperation needed to investigate Nord Stream incidents — Russian diplomat

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DPRK supports Russia in defending sovereignty, security — ambassador

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