Russian Tech Company To Buy Digital Bank For $5.5 Billion

Russian tech giant Yandex is set to buy digital bank Tinkoff in a $5.5 billion agreement, the two companies announced Tuesday.

“The parties have come to an agreement in principle on a transaction that would consist of cash and share consideration worth approximately $5.48 billion or $27.64 per Tinkoff share,” Yandex said in a press release.

Yandex, founded in 1997, is best known for its search engine. The company primarily services Eastern European countries and has been compared to Google, one of its main competitors.

Tinkoff is the largest independent digital bank in the world by the number of customers, and the second-largest issuer of credit cards in Russia. Tinkoff operates completely online and has no physical branches. The company developed Russia’s first digital atm.

Tinkoff was founded in 2006 by entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov, one of Russia's wealthiest businessmen.

Tinkov, 52, confirmed reports in March that he is battling leukemia. He is currently in the U.K., where he is awaiting an extradition court’s ruling on U.S. tax evasion charges. If the court decides to send him to the U.S., he could face up to six years in prison.