--- title: "Russia exit: VK write-off, Avito sale and later sanctions on the buyer" language: en canonical: https://dossiertwist.com/dossiers/naspers/russia/ as_of: 2026-09-21 keywords: ["Naspers","Prosus","Tencent","Koos Bekker","Fabricio Bloisi","Keeromstraat 30 Beleggings","Naspers Beleggings","A ordinary shares","cross-holding","share repurchase programme","Media24","MultiChoice","Takealot","Avito","Kismet Capital Group","Ivan Tavrin","Competition Commission","Competition Tribunal","Just Eat Takeaway.com","PayU"] --- # Russia exit: VK write-off, Avito sale and later sanctions on the buyer **Question.** How did Prosus leave Russia, to whom was Avito sold, and what happened afterwards to the buyer and to the Dutch court case? **Answer.** On 14 October 2022 Naspers announced that Prosus had agreed to sell the Avito Group for an aggregate RUB 151 billion to Radio Reklama Vologda LLC and Infrastructure Holding-2 LLC, described as subsidiaries of Kismet Capital Group LLC beneficially owned by Ivan Tavrin; a news headline of 18 December 2023 reports Prosus as saying the transaction closed in 2022. On 12 December 2023, more than a year after the sale was agreed, the US State Department designated Tavrin, Kismet Capital Group and companies whose names match the two purchasers, and on 13 June 2024 the UK government listed Tavrin. In 2022 the foundation Stichting Ukrainian Victims of War brought summary proceedings in Amsterdam against Prosus and three subsidiaries over military recruitment advertisements on Avito; the judgment of 15 July 2022 is not in the retained record, the foundation appealed, and no appeal judgment was found. An online encyclopedia entry states that the group wrote off its 27.29% investment in VK in March 2022. ## The VK stake, 2007 to 2022 - Analysis: According to an online encyclopedia entry, Naspers bought a 30% share of Mail.ru Group, Russia's largest internet company, later renamed VK, in January 2007 for US$165 million. The same entry states that, following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Naspers, through its subsidiary Prosus, wrote off its 27.29% investment in VK, previously valued at US$769 million, and dates the write-off to March 2022. The purchase, the amounts and the date are the encyclopedia's: no Naspers record of the 2007 purchase, and no Naspers or Prosus record of the write-off, is in the retained material. [src-037] ## Separation from Avito and the exit decision, March to May 2022 - Analysis: News reports of May and October 2022 describe Avito as having been one of Prosus's most valuable investments, with an estimated valuation of about US$6 billion before Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. A Prosus statement of 25 March 2022, as quoted in a later Dutch court summons, said OLX Group had decided to cease all involvement in its Russian operations, that Avito would operate as an independent Russian entity run by a local management team and governed by its own board, and that Prosus would have no day-to-day involvement and would neither invest further nor seek to benefit economically from the interest in Avito; a news report of 20 May 2022 likewise states that in March 2022 Prosus said it would cut ties with Avito and would not seek to benefit economically from its ownership. On 20 May 2022, according to a news report of that date, Prosus said it had decided to exit the Russian business and had started the search for an appropriate buyer for its shares in Avito, and Avito said it would continue to operate as a standalone business run by Russian management. [src-162] [src-121] [src-106] - Analysis: Two publications gave their own accounts of the circumstances. The news report of 20 May 2022 stated that Prosus had initially decided to keep running Avito, citing its responsibility for the company's 4,000 employees, and that this decision was criticised after it emerged that Avito had carried advertisements for Russian military jobs; Prosus had said publicly on 22 March 2022, as quoted in a Dutch court summons, that it had been 'made aware of a small number of job adverts for military vacancies that had been posted on Avito, and this has now been addressed'. A trade publication on online marketplaces wrote on 17 October 2022 that Prosus had come under both external and internal pressure to sell Avito following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and that many potential buyers had been unable to negotiate with Prosus because of international sanctions. These are the publications' accounts; the retained record contains no Prosus statement on the pressure they describe. Prosus's own statements are those of March and May 2022 set out above, including its decision of 20 May 2022 to exit the Russian business and search for an appropriate buyer for its shares in Avito. When the sale was agreed, Naspers said its goal had been 'to manage the sale of the business in a responsible and structured way': on 14 October 2022 it announced that Prosus had agreed to sell the Avito Group for an aggregate consideration of RUB 151 billion to two subsidiaries of Kismet Capital Group LLC beneficially owned by Ivan Tavrin, and a news headline of 18 December 2023, whose article body was not retained, reports Prosus as saying that the transaction closed in 2022. [src-139] [src-162] [src-106] [src-121] [src-109] [src-110] ## The sale of the Avito Group, October 2022 - Analysis: In an announcement issued in Cape Town on 14 October 2022, with Investec Bank Limited as sponsor, Naspers advised that Prosus, through its indirect subsidiaries OLX Global B.V., OLX B.V., KEH Holdings B.V. and MIH Technology Holdings B.V., had agreed to sell the Avito Group, comprising the Russian companies KEH eCommerce LLC and Avito Holding LLC and their subsidiaries, to Radio Reklama Vologda LLC and Infrastructure Holding-2 LLC, which it described as subsidiaries of Kismet Capital Group LLC beneficially owned by Ivan Tavrin. The aggregate consideration was RUB 151 billion, to be paid from the purchasers' cash resources and debt financing they procured, and closing was expected in October 2022. The announcement stated that Prosus held an effective interest of 99% in the Avito Group; that at 31 March 2022, the latest financial year end of Naspers and Prosus, the Avito Group's net asset value was US$1,379.9m and the profits attributable to it were US$160.3m; that the disposal was subject to the requisite antitrust and financial regulatory approvals, which the purchaser had obtained; and that the net proceeds would be used for general corporate purposes. Naspers stated that the disposal constituted a category 2 transaction for it under the JSE Listings Requirements. [src-109] - Analysis: A news report of 14 October 2022 states that Prosus and its parent Naspers said the sale would close that month, and quotes a Naspers statement: 'Our goal has been to manage the sale of the business in a responsible and structured way. We believe that this is best achieved through this deal.' The report describes Avito as Russia's largest online marketplace, with around 5,000 employees and 90 million users. News reports of 14 and 17 October 2022 put the RUB 151 billion price at about US$2.46 billion; the text of the trade publication of 17 October 2022 gives the price as '151 million roubles', which conflicts with the RUB 151 billion in the announcement, while its US-dollar figure corresponds to the billion figure. [src-121] [src-139] - Analysis: No Prosus or Naspers closing announcement with a closing date is in the retained record. A news article of 18 December 2023, of which only the headline is retained, is headed 'Avito transaction closed in 2022, says Prosus, as buyer hit with US sanctions', and the financial statements in Naspers's 2024 integrated annual report state that the prior-year figures include the reclassification to the consolidated income statement of US$202m relating to the disposal of Avito. The sequence in the record is: sale agreed on 14 October 2022 with closing expected that month, closing stated by Prosus to have occurred in 2022, and US designation of Ivan Tavrin and Kismet Capital Group on 12 December 2023. [src-110] [src-054] ## The buyer: Kismet Capital Group and Ivan Tavrin - Analysis: The news report of 14 October 2022 describes the buyer, the Russian investment firm Kismet, as founded by Ivan Tavrin, former chief executive of the telecoms company MegaFon, and reports Tavrin as saying the purchase was in line with Kismet's strategy of investing 'in high-tech market leaders with significant growth potential'. An online encyclopedia entry states that Tavrin founded Kismet Capital Group in 2016 and serves as its CEO, and that he led the IPOs of Kismet Acquisitions companies, which raised more than US$400 million, and the merger with the game developer Nexters Global Ltd, approved in August 2021. A trade publication on online marketplaces described Kismet Capital Group as founded by Tavrin, 'former CEO of the MegaFon telecoms company and close ally of the Kremlin-linked oligarch Alisher Usmanov', and an online encyclopedia entry describes Tavrin as a Russian oligarch, investor and founder of several major corporations, 'linked to another billionaire Alisher Usmanov'. These are characterisations by the publications: the US State Department's release of 12 December 2023 describes Tavrin as a former business partner of Usmanov, and the record does not establish the nature of any later relationship. [src-121] [src-161] [src-139] [src-140] - Analysis: The same trade publication wrote that the acquisition effectively made Avito a stablemate of Youla, Russia's number two general classifieds site, which it said is owned by Usmanov's VK Group (formerly Mail.Ru Group), and that the deal was clearly being backed by the Russian hierarchy, with state-owned RosselkhozBank financing it. That is the publication's assessment; the retained record contains no ownership record linking Avito's buyers to VK or to Usmanov. Kismet's own account, according to the news report of 14 October 2022, was that it had permission for the deal from Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service and a government commission on controlling foreign investment, and that the transaction was financed and settled by a banking consortium led by the state-owned agricultural lender Rosselkhozbank. No statement by Kismet, VK or Usmanov on the publication's other assessments was found in the retained record. [src-139] [src-121] ## Sanctions on the buyer's group, from December 2023 - Analysis: On 12 December 2023 the US State Department, in coordination with the Department of the Treasury, designated Ivan Vladimirovich Tavrin under Executive Order 14024, section 1(a)(i), for operating in the accounting sector of the Russian Federation economy, in a section of its release headed 'The Network Of Russian Oligarch Ivan Tavrin'. The release describes him as the former CEO of MegaFon PAO and a former business partner of Alisher Usmanov, and states that he 'has become one of Russia's biggest wartime dealmakers since the beginning of Russia's illegal war against Ukraine'. On 13 June 2024 the UK government announced 50 new sanctions designations and specifications in co-ordinated action with G7 partners; among those made under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 it listed IVAN VLADIMIROVICH TAVRIN as one of 'six individuals or entities who have benefited since the invasion in key sectors for the Russian state'. A sanctions-data aggregator's profile of Tavrin lists the US Office of Foreign Assets Control measure from 12 December 2023 with no end date and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office measure from 13 June 2024, and further measures by the UK Insolvency Service from 9 April 2025 (described as a director disqualification sanction) and by Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council and Cabinet of Ministers under the Law of Ukraine 'On Sanctions' from 23 August 2025 to 23 August 2035, as well as undated listings by Global Affairs Canada under the Special Economic Measures Act and by Ukraine's defence intelligence directorate; the Ukrainian, Canadian and Insolvency Service listings are known in the retained record only from this aggregator. No statement by Tavrin or Kismet on the designations, and no delisting or licence concerning Tavrin, was found in the retained record. [src-140] [src-167] [src-145] - Analysis: The same US release designated LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY KISMET CAPITAL GROUP, described as a Moscow-based holding company owned by Tavrin, under section 1(a)(i) for operating in the accounting sector, and LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY KISMET CONSULTING, described as a Russian management consulting company owned 100 percent by Tavrin, for being owned or controlled by him; it also designated a series of holding companies described as subsidiaries of Kismet Capital, including Investment Decisions 1, 2 and 3. The OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list entry for Kismet Consulting lists it under the RUSSIA-EO14024 programme, linked to TAVRIN, Ivan Vladimirovich, with Russian tax ID 9701074350, registration number 1177746450947 and a Moscow address, and notes secondary sanctions risk under section 11 of Executive Order 14024; the list page, showing an SDN list update of 18 September 2026, still listed the company. The sanctions-data aggregator's profile lists Tavrin as holding 99.99% of Kismet Capital Group from 2 November 2017 to 2 December 2024 and as owning 100% of Kismet Consulting from 3 May 2017 to 12 November 2024; these ownership periods are the aggregator's data, no Russian registry extract is in the retained record, and the State Department release describes both companies as owned by Tavrin. No statement by Kismet Capital Group or Kismet Consulting on the designations, and no delisting of the Kismet entities, was found in the retained record. [src-140] [src-155] [src-145] - Analysis: The release also designated LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY INFRASTRACTURE HOLDING 2, described as a subsidiary of JOINT STOCK COMPANY NEW HOLDING 1, which the release says was previously a subsidiary of Kismet Capital, and LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY RADIO REKLAMA VOLOGDA, described as a subsidiary of INFRASTRACTURE HOLDING 2. Apart from the spelling 'INFRASTRACTURE', these names match the two purchasers of the Avito Group named in the October 2022 announcement, Radio Reklama Vologda LLC and Infrastructure Holding-2 LLC; the release gives no registration numbers, so the match rests on the names and the Kismet group context. The designation was made more than a year after the sale was agreed in October 2022 and after the closing that Prosus said occurred in 2022: a news article of 18 December 2023, of which only the headline is retained, is headed 'Avito transaction closed in 2022, says Prosus, as buyer hit with US sanctions'. No statement by Kismet Capital Group or by the two designated companies on the designations was found in the retained record. [src-110] [src-140] ## The Ukrainian Victims of War proceedings, 2022 - Analysis: In 2022 the Amsterdam foundation Stichting Ukrainian Victims of War summoned Prosus N.V. and its subsidiaries OLX Global B.V., MIH e-commerce Holdings B.V. and MIH Internet Holdings B.V., which it described as direct or indirect shareholders of the Russian company KEH eCommerce LLC trading as Avito, in summary proceedings (kort geding) before the preliminary relief judge of the Amsterdam District Court, with a hearing set for 7 July 2022. The judge gave judgment on 15 July 2022 (case C/13/719140 / KG ZA 22/555); that judgment is not in the retained record. The foundation appealed by summoning the same four companies to appear before the Amsterdam Court of Appeal on 20 September 2022, asking the court to set aside the judgment and grant all its claims after all, with costs at both instances; the request that the claims be granted 'after all' (alsnog) indicates that they were not granted at first instance. To show a sufficiently close connection with the Dutch legal sphere, it argued that the respondents are established in Amsterdam and that the decision to sell Avito is taken by their boards in the Netherlands. No judgment of the Court of Appeal or other later outcome was found in the retained record. [src-106] [src-113] - Analysis: In the first-instance summons the foundation alleged that military and other personnel had been and still were being recruited, though less than before, for the war in Ukraine through Avito's website, and that such advertisements had largely disappeared after protests including by Stichting Oekraïners in Nederland; it argued that the defendants, as shareholders, had a duty of care to prevent further human rights violations at Avito. It asked the court to order them to ensure that, while they remained (indirect) shareholders, no advertisements recruiting military, paramilitary, police, security or other personnel for violence directed at Ukraine would be visible on Avito's website, and, after any sale, to ensure or stipulate that buyers respect the same order, on penalty of EUR 50 million plus EUR 5 million per day. These are the foundation's allegations and requested orders; the court's assessment is not in the retained record. Prosus had said publicly on 22 March 2022, as quoted in the summons, that it had been 'made aware of a small number of job adverts for military vacancies that had been posted on Avito, and this has now been addressed'. According to the summons, Prosus declined by letter of 24 May 2022 to commit to keeping such advertisements off Avito after a sale, and replied again by letter of 10 June 2022; the appeal summons adds that an in-person meeting with Prosus took place on 18 May 2022, that following the foundation's letter of 9 June 2022 the respondents did not indicate that they wished further consultation, and that lawyers of NautaDutilh N.V. acted for the respondents at first instance. The respondents' own submissions to the court are not in the retained record; the judge ruled on 15 July 2022 in a judgment that is not retained, the foundation's appeal seeks to have all its claims granted after all, and no appeal judgment was found. [src-106] [src-113] - Analysis: The summons also described the group structure and the sale process. It stated that Avito had been a granddaughter company of Prosus since 2019: its shares were wholly held by OLX Global, whose shareholder is MIH e-commerce, a 100% subsidiary of MIH Internet, which in turn is wholly held by Prosus. This is the claimant's description; the October 2022 sale announcement names four selling subsidiaries (OLX Global B.V., OLX B.V., KEH Holdings B.V. and MIH Technology Holdings B.V.) and gives Prosus's effective interest in the Avito Group as 99%. The summons cited press reports that Prosus was negotiating with VK over Avito, asserted that VK allows advertisements recruiting soldiers for the war in Ukraine on its own platform, and named another Russian businessman as interested in Avito. That is the foundation's account based on press reports; according to the sale announcement, Avito was sold in October 2022 to subsidiaries of Kismet Capital Group. [src-106] ## Sources - [src-037] Other source · src-037 - [src-162] Media source · src-162 - [src-121] Media source · src-121 - [src-106] Summary-proceedings writ of Stichting Ukrainian Victims of War against Prosus N.V. and subsidiaries (2022), WAMCA register, De Rechtspraak (Dutch judiciary), 2022 - [src-139] Media source · src-139 - [src-109] Company statement source · src-109 - [src-110] Media source · src-110 - [src-054] Company statement source · src-054 - [src-161] Other source · src-161 - [src-140] U.S. Department of State: Taking Additional Sweeping Measures Against Russia (12 December 2023), U.S. Department of State, 2023-12-12 - [src-167] UK Government: New UK sanctions to crack down on Putin's war machine (13 June 2024), UK Government (Prime Minister's Office, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office), 2024-06-13 - [src-145] Sanctions list source · src-145 - [src-155] OFAC sanctions list search: entry for LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY KISMET CONSULTING, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control - [src-113] Appeal writ of Stichting Ukrainian Victims of War against Prosus N.V. and subsidiaries (2022), WAMCA register, De Rechtspraak (Dutch judiciary), 2022