Report: Tinkov says Yandex deal failed on $200 mln price difference

MOSCOW, Dec 30 (PRIME) – Acquisition by Yandex of a group with core asset Tinkoff Bank failed because of U.S. $200 million difference in price between the companies, Russian businessman and TCS Group founder Oleg Tinkov said late on Tuesday in an interview to TV Rain.

“All deals, you should remember it, crumble because of the only reason, not two or three, but one – little money, that’s all!” Tinkov said.

“We did not come to terms because of a $200 million difference. If they had paid $200 million more, I’d have paid if I were in their shoes, because their capitalization soared by $5 billion on the announcement. But they had their own ideas, procedures…I asked $6.2 billion, they offered $6 (billion).”

TCS Group and Yandex said they agreed on the acquisition by the Internet company of the group for $5.48 billion, but later TCS said it terminated the talks.

“We with (Yandex’s co-founder and CEO) Arkady (Volozh) started with a merger, and they were to pay me half of the amount in shares, that was the trick, and they wanted me to lock up the shares, not to sell them, for 18 months. That was the trick,” Tinkov said.

“I thought I was to influence the operations management during these months, that’s all.”

End