A Yandex representative declined to comment. RBC sent a request to FMR

[tanjimajuha20]

US billionaire FMR has increased its stake in Yandex NV, the parent company of Yandex. Trading in the Russian company's shares has been frozen since February 2022, but investors can buy them on the over-the-counter market

According to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American investment firm FMR LLC has increased its stake in Yandex NV to almost 19.5 million shares (5.983% of capital), according to a statement published on February 9. As of early February 2022, this investor owned 4.928% of Yandex NV

Yandex NV is registered uk cell phone number list in the Netherlands and is the parent company of the Russian Yandex Group. The company's shares are listed on the American NASDAQ stock exchange, so it and its shareholders must notify the SEC of material events.

FMR LLC is a structure of the American financial corporation Fidelity Investments. It is managed by Abigail Johnson, the granddaughter of the late Edward K. Johnson II, the founder of Fidelity Investments. Forbes estimates her fortune at $22.1 billion.

The said increase in stake in Yandex NV is the only public case since the end of February last year, when trading in this company's shares on NASDAQ was stopped against the backdrop of the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.


According to Ekaterina Makeeva, partner and head of the sanctions practice at the A-PRO law firm, companies must file a beneficial ownership report (Form 13D) with the SEC within ten days of the acquisition of a stake that has exceeded the 5% threshold, explaining, among other things, the purpose of the transaction (takeover or other). Yandex NV may "not even know about the purchase." "In this case, it is more likely the injured party - the issuer, which was not notified of the emergence of a new owner of a large stake," Makeeva noted.

Kira Vinokurova, a special adviser at Pen & Paper, also explained that for US companies, the report should be made after the material event. She found no reason for the disclosure to occur 12 months later if FMR had bought the stake in question between its previous disclosure and the trading freeze.

Alexander Nektorov, partner at the law firm Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners (NSP), noted that if FMR LLC acquired the shares back in February of last year, before trading on NASDAQ was halted, then "the delay [in reporting this deal] for more than a year looks strange," so "it looks very much like the acquisition was relatively recent." Nektorov suggested that after trading was halted, FMR LLC could have acquired the shares on the over-the-counter market, possibly at a significant discount.