Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni vetoed a deal sought by the Dutch company Nebius because of the latter's ties to Russia's Yandex. According to Reuters, citing a government document and three people familiar with the matter, the company tried to buy a small Italian developer Tecnologia Intelligente, but faced opposition from local authorities.
Two government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to the agency that Nebius' ties to Russia were the reason for the veto.
Since 2012, the Italian government has used its powers nine times to ban foreign purchases of Italian companies. In six cases, buyers from China were denied. Last year, under former Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italian authorities banned Rosatom from buying Faber Industrie, a company that makes pressure tanks and industrial gases.
"Yandex" has launched a restructuring process, as a result of which the company should actually be divided into two: Russian and registered in the Netherlands Yandex NV, headed by the founder of "Yandex" Arkady Volozh. Nebius separated from Yandex.Cloud, its data is stored in a data center in Finland.