Nebius

History

2023: Ban on the purchase of Tecnologia Intelligente due to connection with Yandex

The Italian authorities did not allow the Dutch cloud services developer Nebius from the Netherlands to buy the Italian company Tecnologia Intelligente due to the possible connection of the buyer with Yandex. The deal was vetoed by Italian Prime Minister George Meloni on March 16, 2023, and a few days later - on March 22 - the Italian Senate unveiled this decision.

Two Italian government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the deal was rejected because of suspicions that Nebius' activities were being funded by Yandex. Yandex confirmed that Nebius is part of the Dutch holding Yandex N.V., but declined to comment further.

Italian Prime Minister George Meloni

Nebius reported that they planned to create a research and development center in Italy with the involvement of the best technical specialists from Russia. They confirmed that the holding is in the process of selling its Russian business, but called the process slow.

By blocking the deal, the Meloni government used special powers for the first time - the so-called "golden power" regulation to block unwanted agreements in industries deemed strategically important. This mechanism was introduced in 2012, the Italian authorities resorted to it nine times, in six of which they stopped deals related to China.

Nebius developer Danila Stan told Reuters that as part of the deal with Tecnologia Intelligente, the company wanted to build a research and development center in Italy to attract the best technical specialists from Russia and other countries.

Our Dutch holding is in the process of selling its Russian business - unfortunately, this is not an imminent process. Hopefully when it's completed, we can focus again on technology, not visas, "he said.[1]

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