Putin gives his consent for selling Ozon by its American shareholder
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an order allowing Baring Vostok (the biggest shareholder of Kazakhstani fintech group Kaspi.kz) to sell its biggest Russian assets as part of splitting the business. The Ozon marketplace, which entered Kazakhstan’s market in 2021, is one of several companies mentioned in the official published document.
This permission is the latest stage of the deal aimed at the splitting of Baring Vostok’s business into two parts: the international business and the Russian one. Under the arrangement with Russian authorities, the Russian part of the business or Vostok Investments will be supervised by local executives of Baring Vostok led by Elena Ivashentseva, a former senior partner of the company. The new entity is expected to obtain stakes in Ozon, Renaissance Insurance, Solopharm, SkyEng (online English school), Familia (discount network), VkusVill and six other companies. In turn, the international entity will be renamed Baring Private Equity and will receive Michael Calvey’s stakes in Kaspi.kz, Kolesa.kz and BlaBlaCar. Calvey will be the only owner of this new company.
By the deal, Vostok Investments should pay the parent structure of Baring $150 million and take some of the liabilities (worth $140 million). According to The Bell, a Russian media outlet, the presidential administration didn’t like the deal as it wanted one of the Russian moguls to take over Ozon. It should’ve been a man close to the Kremlin, such as Ivan Tavrin, a former head of Megaphone and top executive in the USM holding controlled by Alisher Usmanov or the head of the VK holding (son of Vladimir Kirienko, deputy head of the presidential administration). Some experts even said that Baring Vostok’s assets might have been nationalized if the fund hadn’t reached a deal with Russian authorities.
Initially, the two sides agreed to give over 10 out of 12 assets approved by a special governmental commission, established two years ago when Western countries imposed anti-Russian sanctions. The issue with the remaining two companies – Ozon and Renaissance Insurance – was so tough that the situation was reviewed by Putin himself. Baring Vostok possesses a 27.7% share in Ozon, while a 31.8% stake belongs to AFK Sistema (controlled by Vladimir Yevtushenkov). The fund’s share in Renaissance Insurance is 13.7%, whereas the remaining shares are distributed between a wide range of stakeholders.
According to The Bell sources, the value of Baring Vostok’s share in Ozon was the main stumbling point as Vostok Investments wanted to buy the stake for $60,000 instead of the market value of $1.37 billion. The RBK news agency says that authorities approved Baring Vostok selling its stakes in Ozon and Renaissance Insurance under a special term: Vostok Investments is obliged to resell Ozon to a Russian buyer, who would be free of sanctions. No timeline for the deal was provided.
Baring Vostok’s assets were split after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the criminal prosecution of Calvey in Russia. In 2019, he was accused of financial fraud as the fund’s First Collection Bureau (FCB) failed to pay its debt to the Bank Vostochny. The debt emerged after the bank had transferred its treasury shares, acquired from holders, to the Cyprus division of BKS, a Russian broker. The financial institute said that it would buy them back through the FCB which obtained a loan of $26.8 million from the bank. Several years after that, Calvey allegedly persuaded executives of Vostochny to cover this debt with shares of the IFTG from Luxembourg. According to investigators, these stocks cost just about $6,400, while Calvey allegedly stole all the remaining money.
The investor denied any wrongdoing and said that legal prosecution of him was a result of a corporate conflict with Artem Avetisyan, a minor shareholder of Vostochny. In 2021, Calvey obtained a suspended sentence of 5.5 years in prison and immediately left Russia when given permission to travel abroad.
Ozon entered Kazakhstan’s market in 2021. The country was the first foreign state where the marketplace has opened its pick-up points. In February 2024, the company finished the construction of its first fulfillment center in Kazakhstan. The center is expected to significantly speed up the delivery process.
With stakes of 26.13% and 39.76%, Baring Vostok Funds is the biggest shareholder of Kaspi.kz and Kolesa.kz, respectively. In July, the fund agreed to sell its share in Kolesa.kz to Kaspi.kz.
