Sberbank will buy a share in Ozon - Reuters

Sberbank plans to buy 30% of the shares of the OZON online retailer, reports Reuters with reference to sources. The Bell earlier this week, citing his sources, wrote about the retaining interest of the bank to buy a retailer.

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What's happened

Having left the partnership with Yandex, the State Bank plans to buy up to a third of Ozon (after the reclamation of the retailer) to expand its ecosystem. Neither AFC “System” Vladimir Yevtushenkov, nor the Baring Vostok investment fund (both own 40% of the papers) intend to leave the asset.

AFK Systems confirmed Reuters that IPO Ozon strategically examines. The increased interest of investors in the retailer, according to the company, is associated with the growth of sales during the pandemic of coronavirus.

Ozon financial director Daniil Fedorov also told Reuters that he was considering “various strategic steps to finance further development, including IPO”.

What is important to know

Sberbank already has shares in the online rendil: now, together with Yandex, the State Bank owns Yandex.Markete (this is the site that includes the same service compared to goods and marketplaces of the “bucket”), and through the share in Mail.ru Group, Sberbank indirectly owns shares in the Russian aliexpress.

On June 2, The Bell announced that in the coming weeks the companies will announce a divorce: Yandex will buy a share of the bank at Yandex.Market from Sberbank, and Sberbank will receive an IT company in Yandex.Money. But a divorce from Yandex does not mean that Sberbank refused to build a “Russian Amazon” ambition. A year ago, the sources of The Bell said that the bank is interested in the purchase of a large online retailer-for example, Ozon. The Bank retains this interest and does not cancel plans to build a large business in Internet trade, says one of the interlocutors.

Ozon can be a promising investment for the State Bank: in February 2020, JP Morgan analysts calculated that Ozon and Wildberries catch up with AliExpress in the audience and revenue in Russia. In December 2018, the audience of the Chinese retailer exceeded the audience of Ozon and Wildberries about half, and in December 2019 the difference was reduced to 6-8%. The audience of Ozon in December 2019 amounted to 16.9 million people.

Some experts doubted the real growth of the Russian e-commerce: according to the head of the National Association of Remote Trade of Alexander Ivanov, there can be no growth, since citizens have no extra money. He called what was happening "puffing a bubble for investors."