US fund Princeville Capital provides Russian e-retailer with $50m convertible loan

By Andrei Skvarsky.

US investment fund Princeville Capital has provided Russian online retailer Ozon with a $50m loan convertible into equity.

The money came as part of a round of financing in which Ozon also received convertible loans totalling $100m from its main stakeholders Sistema and Baring Vostok, according to an Ozon statement.

Sistema, which is a Russian conglomerate, and Baring Vostok, a Moscow-based private equity firm, each provided half the $100m sum in the funding round, which was carried out earlier this year.

One of Princeville’s managing partners, Emmanuel DeSousa, has joined Ozon’s board.

The loans aim to help Ozon to carry out “plans to significantly expand its logistics and technology infrastructure”, the statement said.

Princeville is focused on backing technology-related companies around the world. Headquartered in San Francisco, it also has offices in Hong Kong and Amsterdam.

Sistema, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Moscow Exchange, owns equity in a variety of sectors in Russia, including banking, telecoms, high technology, retail, timber processing, agriculture, real estate, healthcare, tourism and hospitality.

It made a total revenue of 773.9bn roubles ($11.6bn) in 2018. As of December 31, 2018, its total assets amounted to 1.5 trillion roubles ($21.6bn).

Baring Vostok, according to information on its website, has invested more than $2.8bn in 80 companies in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and other former Soviet republics since its inception in 1994.

The firm, which is focused on Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, currently has more than $3.7bn of committed capital raised from institutional investors in North America, Western Europe and the Middle East.

Baring Vostok has offices in Moscow and Guernsey.

Ozon delivers more than 200,000 orders a day. Its customers make up about 40 per cent of Russia’s population, according to the company’s statement.

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