The VTB group, which controls about 7% of the shares of the largest Balkan retailer Fortenova Grupa, is negotiating a possible exchange of this stake for Yandex shares. This was reported by Frank Media citing sources close to the different parties to the transaction.
The agreement has been discussed for several months, the Croatian authorities have facilitated the obtaining of permits for its implementation, including from the European Commission and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury, sources say. of the publication.
Fortenova planned to buy Yandex shares from numerous Western investors, including American investment banks and hedge funds. According to one of the interlocutors, the scheme should have been like this: “After that, it would be exchanged for a share of the retailer itself, and it would be up to VTB to “drag” the Yandex share to Russian territory.”
A state banker described the deal as “cosmically complex” in every sense. Another source believes this may not happen as there is no clarity on Yandex’s future shareholding structure.
- In May, Yandex announced that it had received requests from potential investors to purchase shares in the company, but the company assured that the share with economic control would remain in the hands of management.
- In autumn 2022, Yandex confirmed its plans to restructure corporate management. The parent company Yandex NV will be separated into a separate group and the Russian Yandex should become part of a new parent structure.
VTB received a stake in Fortenova as payment for a debt of 350 million euros. Together with Sberbank, it was one of the company’s creditors. After the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, state banks and all their structures found themselves under blocking sanctions by the United States and the EU.
The joint share of Sberbank and VTB previously amounted to 50.4%; The credit institutions were the largest shareholders of the company.
Author:
Anastasia Marina
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
