China’s e-commerce major Alibaba and Russia’s internet company Mail.ru have announced that they have entered into a deal to launch a joint venture in Russia and former Soviet countries.
The new venture will be called AliExpress Russia, taking after the name of an existing Alibaba platform.
The two groups and the Russian sovereign wealth fund RDIF along with telecom operator MegaFon, announced the inauguration of “a new strategic partnership” as Russia hosts an economic forum in the far eastern city of Vladivostok.
Alibaba and Mail.ru said in a statement this would “integrate Russia’s key consumer internet and e-commerce platforms and launch a leading social commerce joint venture in Russia and the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).”
According to the statement, the new company will be 48 percent owned by Alibaba, 24 percent by MegaFon, 15 percent by Mail.ru and 13 percent by the RDIF without disclosing the amounts involved.
Alibaba Group president Michael Evans said at a press conference in Vladivostok, “We want this to be a Russian business, adding that the Chinese group was bringing “experience and technology”.