MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. Yandex N.V., the Dutch parent company of the Yandex group, has closed the first stage of the transaction on sale of its business in Russia to a consortium of private investors, the company said in a statement.

At this first closing, Yandex N.V. sold around 68% of the group's businesses in Russia and certain international markets. At the second stage of the deal Yandex N.V. will sell the remaining minority interest of approximately 28%. The transaction is expected to be finally closed in July 2024.

On February 5, 2024, Yandex N.V. announced the sale of the Yandex business to a consortium of private investors for 475 billion rubles ($5.2 bln). The Consortium.First mutual investment fund headed by Yandex managers will be the main owner. As a result of the transaction, the seller of assets will receive an amount equivalent to at least 230 billion rubles ($2.5 bln) in yuan.

Yandex will retain the businesses, services and assets of the Yandex N.V. group, with the exception of foreign startups (Nebius, Toloka, Avride and TripleTen), as well as a data center in Finland. In turn, the Russian Yandex will retain the rights to all technologies and provide Yandex N.V. limited rights to use part of its technologies until the end of 2024.