Yandex N.V. hands control of main Russian legal entity to subsidiary IJSC

MOSCOW. Jan 23 (Interfax) - Yandex International Joint-Stock Company (Yandex IJSC) , which is domiciled in a special administrative region, became the owner of 99.999% of Yandex LLC, the Yandex internet holding's main operating company in Russia, at the end of last year.

The changes were recorded on January 22, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

The sole owner of the IJSC is the Yandex parent company Yandex N.V. Accordingly, Yandex N.V. remains the ultimate beneficiary of Yandex LLC.

Yandex IJSC also owns 100% of Technoyac LLC and 49% of Yandex DTS, which are affiliated to the Russian tech company.

Yandex IJSC was established by the Yandex parent company, Yandex N.V.

The Yandex press office told Interfax that these changes were "a technical procedure to optimize the structure of the group's legal entities." The company continues to prepare for restructuring.

"Yandex N.V. continues to be the parent company of the group. It is the founder of IJSC Yandex," the company said.

Yandex is considering a corporate restructuring in which the Russian business would be handed over to management, while Netherlands-based parent company Yandex N.V. might divest its stake in the Russian business.

Yandex said at the end of October that it had obtained one of the permits needed to conduct its internal restructuring from the Russian government's foreign investments commission.

Yandex planned to put its restructuring before shareholders for consideration by the end of 2023.

Yandex's largest shareholder is a family trust established by company cofounder Arkady Volozh, which holds 8.5% of Yandex equity and 45.1% of votes. Volozh decided in June 2022 that he would not instruct the trustee as to how to vote such shares going forward and that the trustee would vote such shares in accordance with the recommendations of the board of directors.

The company's free float is 87.9% or 46.5% of votes.