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RUSSIA'S ECONOMY

Yandex, Sberbank agree to create e-commerce joint venture

Sberbank will invest $500.52 mln into Yandex.Market

© Maxim Shemetov/TASS

MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/. Yandex and Sberbank signed signed a non-binding term sheet to form a joint venture based on the Yandex.Market platform, according to Yandex.

"The companies intend to combine the technological capabilities of Yandex and the infrastructure and technologies of Sberbank to develop a leading eCommerce ecosystem," Yandex said.

Sberbank will invest 30 bln rubles ($500.52 mln) into Yandex.Market, valuing it at 60 bln rubles ($1 bln) on a post-money basis, before taking into account any potential future synergies. The two partners will own equal stakes in the joint venture, up to 10% of the company's shares will be allocated for an equity incentive pool for Yandex.Market management and employees.

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At the moment there are no plans to attract other investors to the project, Yandex press service told TASS.

According to Yandex, if and when definitive documents are signed, the transaction will be subject to regulatory approval in the Russian Federation. The parties anticipate that the transaction will close by the end of 2017. There can be no assurance that the transaction will ultimately close.

Yandex.Market will continue to operate under the current management team led by Maxim Grishakov, its Chief Executive Officer.

"This proposed joint venture will create new benefits for our users. Sberbank’s banking and payments infrastructure will help us develop simple and secure payment solutions on the Yandex.Market platform and will allow us to introduce new features, such as consumer lending," Maxim Grishakov, CEO of Yandex.Market, said. "The proposed investment will strengthen Yandex.Market’s position in the eCommerce segment allowing us improve our logistics capabilities, accelerate the wide-scale introduction of "Checkout on Yandex.Market" and enhance our value proposition to domestic and international merchants," Grishakov added.

Yandex.Market serves a monthly audience of over 20 mln users.

Yandex shares of at the Moscow Exchange grow in price by 1.3% reaching 1,815 rubles ($30.2) per share after the news about creating a joint venture with Sberbank based on Yandex.Market.

Ordinary shares of Sberbank decreased by 1.5% to 173.12 rubles ($2.88) per share.

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