Russian sovereign wealth fund RDIF, China’s Tencent and Prosus (part of the Naspers Group), alongside other major strategic investors, have participated in Mail.Ru’s $600 million offering of global depository receipts (GDRs) and convertible bonds.
The LSE-listed company will use the proceeds from the offering to develop, in particular, two joint ventures:
- O2O, which Mail.Ru launched in June 2019 together with Sberbank;
- E-commerce platform AliExpress Russia, of which Mail.Ru, MegaFon and the RDIF became shareholders last year alongside the platform historic investor Alibaba.
The proceeds will also be used “for organic growth across existing verticals, and to pursue strategic M&A opportunities in high growth verticals, with a particular focus on those stimulated by the pandemic,” the RDIF indicated in a statement Friday.
Telemedicine is among the verticals that have seen a rapid growth in demand amid the Covid-19 crisis, the RDIF notes. Through a partnership with Mail.ru Group announced in June 2020, Doctis, a portfolio company of RDIF, will integrate its remote medical services to the Health.Mail.Ru portal.
