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Weekly Lists
May 11, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 27
bne:TMT
Russia's Mail.ru gets shareholder reshuffle, MegaFon to profit
Russian internet services major Mail.ru will be co-owned by joint venture MF Technologies formed by one of country's mobile operators MegaFon, third largest bank Gazprombank, and USM Holdings of bil- lionaire and tech investor Alisher Usmanov, the companies announced.
The new joint venture plans to develop banking products and a finan- cial online platform, potentially competing with Russian state behe- moth Sberbank that has ambitious digitally driven strategy. Aton Equity sees the deal as positive, on May 8 noting that the deal price provides an estimated 29% premium to the current market price of Mail.ru.
According to the deal terms, MegaFon will transfer 5.23% of its economic and 58.87% of the voting rights to the joint venture and will then receive 45% of the new company. Gazprombank will acquire 35% of the joint venture and will pay $157.5mn, Rostec state technology agency 11% for $49.5mn, and USM 9% for $40.5mn.
Russia's largest state-controlled bank Sberbank announced closing the deal with internet major Yandex and setting up the Yandex.Market joint venture. "We want to create Russian Amazon on the basis of Yandex.Market, and I very much hope we will succeed," the CEO of the bank Herman Gref is quoted as saying by Vedomosti daily on April 27.
The deal is in line with Sberbank's ambitious digital strategy adopted in 2017. The bank keeps a constant roll-out of digitally- driven innovations and on April 28 promised to enable ATMs to withdraw cash through mobile application.
Currently Yandex.Market attracts more than 19mn desktop and laptop users each month, giving them access to over 20,000 domestic and international merchants and 150mn product offerings.
The advertising market in Russia and Ukraine continues to boom. In 2017, the Russian and Ukrainian advertising market reached their highest growth rate of the last three years, according to the weCAN advertising agency.
Following a 10% decrease in 2015 and a 11% increase in 2016, the net advertising spending in Russia grew by 14% last year, reaching RUB417bn (€6bn). Meanwhile, the Ukrainian ad market continued on an astonishing growth path: after a period of stagnation in 2015 and a 27% increase in 2016, it recorded a growth of 29% amounting to UAH16bn (€540mn) last year.
Russia's Sberbank finalises Yandex. Market deal to create
a "Russian Amazon", keeps stable innovation rollout
The advertising market in Russia and Ukraine continues to boom