Russian online service Yandex.Taxi and Uber have agreed to combine their businesses in Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan, according to the report from Yandex, TASS reports.
According to the report, both Yandex.Taxi and Uber app will operate as before, driver apps, on the other hand, will be transitioned to a unified platform. “This combined driver platform will significantly increase the number of available cars, reduce passenger wait time, and boost vehicle utilization. Drivers will be able to perform more trips per hour while passengers will continue to enjoy affordable prices,” the company said.
The new company will also operate the UberEATS service in the region.
Uber will invest $225 mln and Yandex will invest $100 mln into the combined company, valuing it at $3.725 bln on a post-money basis. “On a pro forma basis, Yandex will own 59.3% of the combined company, Uber will own 36.6%, and employees will own 4.1%,” Yandex said.
At the same time, Yandex press service told TASS that the company does not rule out the initial public offering (IPO) for the new Yandex.Taxi and Uber and company.
The transaction is still subject to regulatory approvals and is scheduled to close in the Q4 2017.
