Feb 8 (Reuters) - An entity formed of senior Yandex managers will become the Russian internet company's largest shareholder with a 35% stake should a $5.2 billion cash and share deal go through, Yandex NV said in a shareholder circular on Thursday.
The 475 billion rouble deal, announced on Monday, to sell what has been dubbed "Russia's Google" to a consortium of Russian investors would be one of the largest and most significant corporate transactions since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Yandex NV, the group's Dutch-registered holding company, said the divestment of its Russia-based businesses, which account for more than 95% of Yandex's revenue, would be put to a shareholder vote on March 7.
A group of up to 50 members of the management team would take a 35% stake, the shareholder circular said.
Infinity Management, a company owned by Alexander Chachava would purchase a 25% stake, IT.Elaboration, owned by Pavel Prass, and a fund owned by oil major Lukoil would take a 15% stake and Meridian-Servis, owned by Alexander Ryazanov would acquire a 10% stake.
Yandex NV said it had conducted extensive due diligence on the consortium's members, including background checks by an international investigations firm and discussions with relevant authorities in the United States and European Union.
The share purchase agreement includes sanctions-related warranties, Yandex NV said, that no members of the consortium or affiliates are under sanctions and that each buyer acts as principal and not as an agent.
($1 = 91.2050 roubles) (Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Gleb Stolyarov' editing by David Goodman and Jason Neely)
