Yandex takes over Delivery Club

MOSCOW. Sept 9 (Interfax) - Yandex has taken ownership of Delivery Club food service, according to data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Yandex's press service told Interfax.

Specifically, Yandex LLC has received 99.95% of Delivery Club LLC, with the remaining going to GIS Technologies LLC, the IT company's subsidiary. The deal was concluded on September 8.

"We are preparing documents and the technical part for full closure of all parts of the deal. This will take some time. As soon as the deal has been concluded, we will definitely announce it," Yandex's press service told Interfax.

Yandex in August signed binding documents with VK internet holding on the exchange of the Zen and News services for the Delivery Club food service. VK prior to this was required to exit the joint venture with Sberbank regarding the O2O Holding transport and food-tech venture, receiving 100% of Delivery Club in return. No cash changed hands, and the deal should be closed before the end of the year.

Russia's Federal Anti-monopoly Service (FAS) at the end of August permitted the companies to exchange assets, while issuing an order on the need to maintain competition in the respective markets.

As part of the instruction on Yandex's request to purchase Delivery Club, one of the requirements of the FAS is the absence of any advantages for restaurants and deliveries using the Yandex.Food service in relation to other order aggregators. In addition, Yandex must not take any action aimed at refusing or reducing the use of Delivery Club or other third-party services by restaurants. Yandex has said that the Yandex Food tech service already supports the principles of openness and equality on the market, including when collaborating with partners.