The sale of Tinkoff Bank to Yandex is far from certain, Russian online publication The Bell wrote yesterday, just three weeks after the two companies announced an “agreement in principle” on a $5.5 billion merger. Oleg Tinkov, the owner of the online bank, is also considering other buyers — in particular mobile operator MTS, or its affiliate MTS bank.
The Bell, citing financial Telegram channels and unnamed sources, reported that Tinkov has been in discussions with both parties in parallel for months. For the last year and a half, he has approached half a dozen potential buyers among top Russian financial institutions.
Should an agreement be reached with MTS or MTS bank, the acquisition could be backed with a loan from Sber, the state-owned financial and technology giant and a new rival of Yandex.
