Sberbank will sell 20% of voting shares of Mail.Ru Group

Sberbank is selling to Gazprombank a 36% stake in MF Technologies, through which Sberbank owned about 20% of the voting shares of VK (the former Mail.Ru Group), according to a press release from the bank.

The parties signed binding documentation. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. The cost of the transaction is 12.8 billion rubles.

Other shareholders of MF Technologies JSC are Megafon (45%), Rostec (10%) and USM Holdings (9%). The company owns 57.3% of Mail.Ru Group.

• Sberbank acquired a stake in JSC two years ago - 35% from Gazprombank and 1% from Rostec, the deal was closed in December 2019. In July of that year, Sberbank and Mail.Ru Group announced the creation of a joint venture, O2O Holding, in which the partners each own 50%. It includes Citymobil taxi services and Delivery Club food delivery services, the main competitors of similar Yandex services.

• In the fall of 2020, became disagreements between the partners known, and in the spring of this year, the Financial Times reported that the parties had applied to the Kremlin for permission to divorce. If it does, it will be Sberbank's fourth failed technology partnership.