Sberbank will sell 36% of shares in MF Technologies JSC to Gazprombank, according to the reports of the banks: they have signed a binding agreement. The deal will amount to 12.8 billion rubles, it is planned to close it in the IV quarter.
MF Technologies JSC controls 57.3% of VK’s voting shares (formerly Mail.Ru Group Ltd.). The enterprise was created in 2018 with the participation of Megafon, Gazprombank, RT-Business Development (a subsidiary of Rostec) and USM Holdings to implement projects in the digital economy.
Sberbank bought 36% of MF Technologies in 2019 from Gazprombank (35%) and Rostec (1%) for 11.3 billion rubles. and became an equal partner in the company. As a result of the transaction, the shareholding structure of MF Technologies became as follows: Megafon – 45%, Sberbank – 36%, Rostec – 10%, USM Holdings – 9%. Sberbank received one seat on the board of directors of VK, which was taken by the first deputy chairman of the bank’s board, Lev Khasis. Now Gazprombank is back becoming a shareholder of the enterprise.
When Sberbank bought a stake in the largest shareholder of VK, both companies announced the creation of a joint venture O2O Holding, where each company received 45%. Another 10% is for employee rewards. The deal to create the joint venture was closed in December 2019.
In the first half of 2021, the O2O loss amounted to RUB 16.2 billion, an increase of 1.8 times compared to the same period last year. Revenue for six months increased to 22.9 billion rubles. against 5.4 billion rubles. in 2020 The total investment of Sber and VK in the joint venture in 2021 is approximately 43 billion rubles. taking into account the additional 12.2 billion rubles contributed in October.
The perimeter of O2O includes assets in the foodtech sphere – food delivery services Delivery Club, Samokat and Kitchen in the District, restaurant automation service r_keeper and manufacturer of ready-made food rations Performance Group, as well as transport – Taxi Citymobil, car sharing Citydrive and 2GIS cartographic service.
In the spring of 2021, the Financial Times, citing sources, reported that Sberbank was discussing the division of assets within the JV. And in the fall of 2020, the publication wrote that the companies could have “managerial and cultural differences” that could lead to their “divorce.” In particular, according to the publication, disagreements could be caused by the question on which basis to build a common ecosystem – the bank’s financial network or the VKontakte social network, which belongs to VK. Sources of the publication said that VK insists on its own basis for building the ecosystem, in turn, Sberbank does not agree with this position.
A representative of VK then told Vedomosti that the company was not going to leave the joint venture. The first deputy chairman of the board of Sber, Lev Khasis, in an interview with FT in September of this year, said that both companies “are doing everything possible to [совместное предприятие] successfully developed. ” At the same time, Khasis denied information about the division of assets. Sberbank President German Gref, commenting on messages about the “divorce” from Mail.ru Group, said in an interview with RBC that the parties have “very good relations” and they manage to find solutions to “emerging similar complex problems.”
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