The deal between Russia’s leading technology company Yandex and Tinkoff bank was cancelled due to both sides failing to agree terms of takeover. The bank’s billionaire founder Oleg Tinkov walked away from the negotiations.
According to Forbes Russia, the main sticking point in the negotiations was over the role that Tinkov, who is currently being treated for acute leukemia in London and battling U.S. extradition charges over an alleged $1 billion in unpaid taxes, would play in the bank once it was integrated with Yandex. The outspoken billionaire wanted to stay involved and have an active role in the bank’s development, an idea which Yandex were opposed to.
“Today, I decided to cancel the potential deal with Yandex. Why? We started talking about merging, a search for synergies and rapid growth of customers. They wanted to build the largest private company in Russia. (…) In fact, it turned into a sale. They just wanted to buy Tinkoff, with all the resulting negative consequences for us. Tinkoff will not be sold to Yandex or MTS”, said Tinkov in an email sent to the bank’s employees.
“We agreed that after the deal, Oleg Tinkov would have participated in the management of the bank and helped Yandex. It was logical, because after the deal Oleg would have become a major shareholder in Yandex. (…) Unfortunately, after every stage of the negotiations, more and more requirements appeared. Therefore, when we learnt today that Oleg decided to back out of the deal, we were not surprised”, said Yandex deputy CEO Tigran Khudaverdyan in an email to employees.
