Alibaba Group holding ltd, is setting up a $2 billion joint venture with billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s internet services firm Mail.ru Group ltd to strengthen the Chinese company’s foothold in Russian e-commerce.
Asia’s most valuable company signed an accord Tuesday with Mail.ru to merge their online marketplaces in the nation of more than 140 million people. The deal is backed by the Kremlin through the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the local investors will collectively control the new business. Mail.ru’s global depository receipts traded in London jumped as much as 12 percent.