Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce giant, will partner with Moscow’s sovereign wealth fund and Kremlin-friendly oligarch Alisher Usmanov to set up a Russian branch of its retail site AliExpress, the company said yesterday.
Russia’s second-largest mobile operator Megafon and internet company Mail.ru, which are both ultimately controlled by Mr Usmanov, will take minority stakes in AliExpress Russia, along with the state-run Russian Direct Investment Fund.
The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2019, is the first major joint venture between Russian and Chinese companies and intensifies Alibaba’s global rivalry with Amazon. AliExpress Russia will sell Chinese-made goods.