The Bell: VK Discusses Deal To Buy Skyeng Online Language School

The companies have started negotiations, but no binding documents have yet been signed, the sources say.

According to the publication, Skyeng shareholders are considering selling the asset or listing on the Moscow Stock Exchange. At the same time, VK is not the only buyer of Skyeng, the interlocutors say. So, the shareholders of the online school are in talks with Alexei Mordashov's Severgroup, which owns 85% in Netology Group through the TalentTech IT holding company.

Skyeng was planning a foreign currency IPO in early 2022, one of the sources knows. However, after February 24, the plans fell through.

RB.RU sent a request to the press services of VK and Skyeng. VK reported that they do not comment on the information. Skyeng's press service responded that they do not comment on the rumors: “Over the past five years, we have heard such assumptions many times. At the same time, we have always considered and continue to consider both the IPO and strategic alliances as an important stage in the development of the company.”

• VK owns 50.06% of the Skillbox Limited holding company (Skillbox and Geekbrains online schools) - its revenue in 2021 amounted to 10.4 billion rubles (the total market was estimated at 73 billion rubles). VK also owns 25% in the online platform for schoolchildren Uchi.ru and 45% in the Tetrika service and another 11.7% in the Algorithmika programming school.
• VK also has plans for other Russian Internet companies. In April, the holding company signed an agreement on the purchase of Yandex.News and Yandex.Zen, it is also possible to purchase the Avito online advertising service and ivi online cinema.