Epam left Russia irrevocably
100% of the Russian Epam Systems LLC came under the control of one of the structures of billionaire Vladimir Potanin, the owner of Interros. A buyback is not planned.
The new owner of the Russian Epam is the Reksoft group. 20% in it belongs to the structures of Vladimir Potanin.
The company reported that LLC bought out 100% of RNT Group, which is the copyright holder of Epam Systems LLC. Under the terms of the deal, the group will not be able to use the Epam brand, but it will be able to use it during the “integration of the teams” – until the end of 2023.
The deal also does not contain a buyback clause, as is the case with a number of other foreign companies. Its price is also not disclosed, but sources are sure that Reksoft took advantage of the credit line. Analysts estimate the deal at 10-15 billion rubles, although the price may be an order of magnitude lower due to the reduction of assets and staff, the desire of the owners to get rid of the asset.
– EPAM primarily specializes in solutions related to the use of cloud technologies: cloud migration, creation of data platforms, machine learning and ML-OPS (mainly on Azure and Amazon platforms). After the introduction of sanctions, it became impossible to sell such solutions to Russian customers, including due to difficulties with making payments and receiving funds. Therefore, over the past year, the company has been relocating developers and actually completing old contracts, – said Evgeny Romanenko, director of S + Consulting.
Evapps Managing Partner Ruslan Ishmukhamedov believes that EPAM, through the deal, “insures itself against accusations that it has interests in the Russian Federation, and completely breaks off any relations with old Russian clients.”
– The relocation of the majority of EPAM employees could negatively affect the quality and volume of development in the company, in this context, the deal with Reksoft will have a positive impact on relations with clients, help restore the reduced staff, strengthen expertise, – says Andrey Sharlay, investment analyst at s20 Capital.
In March, BV wrote that Epam was unable to close a deal to sell the Russian office of a certain company, although it concluded a corresponding agreement last September.
Epam announced the termination of service to Russian customers some time after the start of the CBO. After that, the company began the process of relocating employees, announcing in April that it was finally leaving the country. The office in Saratov on Tankistov Street was closed on May 17, in Izhevsk – in early August, in Samara – in early November.
At the end of 2021, more than 6 thousand people worked in the Russian offices of the company. The revenue of Epam Systems for 2022 amounted to 15 billion rubles (in 2021 – 28.7 billion rubles), and the loss was 3 billion rubles against a profit of 5.5 billion rubles in hzikhidtidekrt 2021
Help “BV”. Reksoft is a Russian developer of digital solutions for the financial sector, public sector, retail, transport, logistics and other industries. In April 2022, Interros received 20% in the company. The main shareholders are the founders of the company: Alexander Egorov, Viktor Kozlov and Dmitry Rudakov. At the end of 2022, the group’s revenue increased by 15.8%, to RUB 1.73 billion.