KOMMERSANT. Mail.ru Group sold most of its holding in QIWI Group, which runs the largest Russian instant payment system. According to Kommersant’s sources, the company might divest 4% of QIWI at a 2.8% discount to the market price, generating $80 mln. All in all, the group earned over $300 mln on the money invested in QIWI, in which the Internet holding once held 25%.
On Tuesday US investment bank Morgan Stanley placed a 4% equity stake in QIWI, which belonged to Mail.ru Group. A stock market source said that the shares were mainly purchased by US investment funds, with domestic investors getting next to nothing. The selling price was set at $37.50 per ADR, i.e. 2.8% below Monday’s closing price.
QIWI shares kicked off 5% lower on NASDAQ. The company’s market cap amounted to $2 bln. Prior to the transaction Mail.ru Group’s interest in QIWI equaled 5.3% (the Internet company held 25% of QIWI in 2010), while the voting stake was equal to 11.3%. After Tuesday’s transaction Mail.ru Group holds a modest interest (roughly 1.3%), a stock market participant said.
As Mail.ru Group said in a press release, on September 2, 2014 the company’s shareholders decided to cross out QIWI from the list of portfolio companies. This caused a cut in Mail.ru Group’s equity stake in QIWI, QIWI spokeswoman Yulia Mansurova pointed out. “Mail.ru Group is not only a shareholder of QIWI, but is also its long-term strategic partner. This decision is of no effect to the partnership relations and joint projects of QIWI and Mail.ru Group," QIWI CFO Alexander Karavaev said.
