Sberbank, Yandex to create eCommerce JV valued at 60 bln rubles
MOSCOW. Aug 9 (Interfax) - Sberbank of Russia and Yandex have signed a non-binding term sheet to form a joint venture based on the Yandex.Market platform, the two organizations said in a joint press release.
Sberbank will invest 30 billion rubles into Yandex.Market, increasing its value to 60 billion rubles before taking into account any potential future synergies. Sberbank and Yandex will have equal stakes in the JV, up to 10% of whose shares will be allocated to an equity incentive program for management and employees.
The project is aimed at creating an eCommerce ecosystem for online purchase and sale of goods, including digital goods, and associated products and services.
Yandex.Market will continue to operate under the current management team led by its CEO, Maxim Grishakov. He will join the board of directors of Yandex.Market, which will also include three other representatives from Yandex and three from Sberbank.
"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," Grishakov is quoted in the press release as saying.
"The proposed investment will strengthen Yandex.Market's position in the eCommerce segment allowing us to 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 said.
Sberbank has already cooperated with Yandex in various areas and views the eCommerce area as strategic, Sberbank CEO Herman Gref, who is a member of the board of directors of Yandex N.V., is cited in the press release as saying.
"Sberbank's role and contribution in the creation of the leading eCommerce player are important to the development of the Sberbank ecosystem, in addition to the economy as a whole. This partnership opens up new opportunities for Russian producers, eCommerce players, and small and medium businesses, unlocks opportunities for Russian exports abroad, and creates a new channel for international participants in the market," Gref said.
Yandex began developing eCommerce services simultaneously with its first search services, Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh said in the press release. "eCommerce is rapidly changing and today it's more critical than ever to provide consumers with the ability to buy products on one site from multiple sources in a single, seamless transaction. We are at the center of this transition and we believe that this partnership with Sberbank will allow us to create substantial value," Volozh said.
Yandex.Market is one of the largest players in the Russian eCommerce market, with over 100 billion rubles gross merchandise volume in 2016 and with over 150 million product offerings.
Sberbank and Yandex have signed a non-binding term sheet with respect to the proposed joint venture. The transaction remains subject to the negotiation of definitive documentation and the completion of Sberbank's due diligence. 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.
