Yandex offers $200 mln shares, VTB, Abramovich’s co among investors

MOSCOW, Jun 25 (PRIME) -- Russian Internet company Yandex has announced a proposed public offering of U.S. $200 million newly issued Class A shares, and the investors include VTB Capital, a part of VTB Group, and a firm of tycoon Roman Abramovich, Yandex said late on Tuesday in a statement.

Yandex also intends to grant the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $30 million of its Class A shares. All Class A shares to be sold in the proposed public offering will be offered by Yandex. Goldman Sachs & Co. is acting as the sole book-runner and underwriter for the proposed public offering.

“Concurrent with the proposed public offering, Yandex intends to sell, subject to the consummation of the public offering and other customary conditions, in a private placement exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, $200 million of its Class A shares to each of three private investors. The sale price per Class A share in the concurrent private placement will be equal to the lesser of (i) the offering price in the public offering, and (ii) the product of 1.05 and the volume-weighted average sale price of our Class A shares on NASDAQ on June 23, 2020, for aggregate gross proceeds of $600 million,” Yandex said.

“The investors in the proposed private placement are VTB Capital, the investment business arm of VTB Group, a Russian bank and global provider of financial services; Ervington Investments Ltd., a company whose ultimate beneficiary is Roman Abramovich; and Treliscope Ltd., a company whose ultimate beneficiaries are Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov. The consummation of the public offering is not contingent on the consummation of the concurrent private placement. Goldman Sachs International is acting as the sole placement agent for the concurrent private placement.”

Yandex intends to use the proceeds from the proposed public offering and concurrent private placement to maintain financial flexibility and fund future growth and strategic opportunities across multiple sectors, including e-commerce.

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