CEO: Sberbank not to partner Alibaba, but compete with Yandex JV

MOSCOW, Jun 8 (PRIME) -- Russia’s biggest bank Sberbank does not plan to be a partner for Alibaba Group any longer, but to compete with the Chinese giant with its joint venture with Internet company Yandex, CEO German Gref said on Friday.

“We do not plan any cooperation with Alibaba, we’d been holding negotiations for a year and a half and failed to come to terms, after which in an accord with Yandex, we decided to channel resources into project Yandex.Market…it’s a competitor in this sphere,” Gref said.

In April, Yandex and Sberbank closed the deal to create the joint venture on the basis of online selling platform Yandex.Market.

The bank and the internet company said earlier they will choose a name for their joint retail online floor after its beta-testing, while its commercial launch is scheduled for September–November.

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