Yandex has not provided documents on sale of Russian assets to Commission on Foreign Investments - Shadayev
MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - Documents from Yandex N.V . for the sale of its Russian assets were not submitted to the government commission on foreign investment, Russian Minister of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, told reporters.
"The materials were not contributed for the purchase of Russian assets from Yandex N.V.; there were no materials. There was a request for intra-group restructuring, but there was no package for the sale of Russian assets by foreign investors to someone else," Shadayev said.
Earlier, Frank Media reported, citing sources, that a statement by ex-CEO of Yandex Arkady Volozh regarding his opinion on the conflict in Ukraine postponed the approval of the deal to divide the company's assets into Russian and international businesses. The intra-group deal had to be approved by the government commission on foreign investments, the interlocutors clarified.
The interlocutors also indicated that this affected the amount that parent company Yandex N.V. would receive from Russian Yandex, which decreased from $250 million to $70-80 million.
Currently, Yandex is studying the issue of restructuring, where the Russian business is planned for transfer to "control of management," while Yandex N.V. may leave the ranks of the Russian business's owners.
Yandex indicated in its annual report that it plans to bring the restructuring issue to shareholders for consideration in 2023. In June, the US Nasdaq exchange allowed Yandex to maintain its listing, subject to successful business restructuring by the end of the year. Maintaining the listing does not imply the resumption of trading, which was suspended on February 28, 2022.
The main shareholder of Yandex is a family trust established by the company's co-founder Arkady Volozh. The fund owns 8.5% of Yandex's capital and 45.1% of votes (in June last year it stopped making decisions on voting with the company's shares; now the vote is taken based on the recommendations of the board of directors). Free float accounts for 87.9% of capital (46.5% of votes).