USM Usmanova sold VK to Sogaz

USM Alisher Usmanov announced the sale of her stake in the VK group (formerly Mail.ru Group) to the Sogaz group. The largest shareholders of Sogaz are the co-owner of Rossiya Bank Yuri Kovalchuk and his family (32.3%) and Gazprom (21.2%). The amount is not disclosed.

In the release, USM quotes Usmanov himself, who recalled that "three years ago, my partners and I transferred the right to vote with our VK Group shares to its management." According to him, USM exits the company's capital, "leaving it at the peak of performance in terms of both the number of audience and financial metrics, which inspires confidence in its future."

The market perceived the appearance of new shareholders in VK, as close as possible to the state, as good news - the company's shares rose by 6.6%. The Bell spoke in more detail about the deal in the evening mailing .

The recently rebranded VK owns the largest social network in Russia, VKontakte, as well as Odnoklassniki, mail.ru mail, Samokat delivery services, a stake in Delivery Club, Citymobil taxi and other services. The market capitalization of the group exceeds $4 billion.

What the new name will bring to the company 20 years after its founding and whether the rebranding will be able to stop the fall in quotations and change the fate of the Mail.ru Group, we analyzed in the issue of The Bell tech newsletter.