Russian internet group Mail.ru has teamed up with investment firm Proxima Capital to buy a controlling stake in car-sharing operator YouDrive, which it may fold into its planned food and taxi joint venture with state-run Sberbank.
Mail.ru and Sberbank said last month they would invest up to 64 billion roubles ($1 billion) in a platform that will compete with Yandex.Taxi, a unit of Russia’s Yandex and US online taxi firm Uber.
Russia’s banks, also including VTB and TCS, have been actively investing in side projects such as internet and telecom services as corporate demand for their services is slow.
Mail.ru did not disclose the size of the YouDrive stake or the cost of its investment, but said the deal included the company’s car-sharing operations and its taxi rental service.
Full Content: Reuters
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