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Yandex does not rule out Yandex.Taxi and Uber IPO

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

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. 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.

However, the company representative did not specify possible terms of placement.

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 combined company, valuing it at $3.725 bln on a post-money basis. "On a pro forma basis, Yandex will own 59.3% of the combined company, Uber will own 36.6%, and employees will own 4.1%," Yandex 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.

According to analysts, the size of the official Russian taxi sector reaches approximately $8.4 bln (2016, VTB Capital). "That means that the combined company’s share of the taxi sector would have been only about 5-6%," Yandex said.