Sberbank moves into e-medicine sector

by Sberbank

Sberbank announces closing a transaction to purchase a controlling stake in DocDoc.ru, the leading company on the Russian e-medicine market.

Sberbank will hold 79.6% of the company’s stock, while the remaining stake will belong to the founder of the company and its key management. The transaction was closed after the Bank of Russia granted its permission. The impact of this investment on the adequacy of Sberbank Group’s capital will total less than 0.01%.

The purchase of DocDoc.ru is an important step in implementing Sberbank’s strategy to build digital ecosystems aimed at the maximum satisfaction of clients’ needs.

DocDoc.ru is the leader on the online medical appointment market. As legislation regulating e-medicine develops, the company is planning to turn into a full-fledged e-health platform that unites such services as telemedicine, medical records, second opinion, medicine delivery etc.

The main target of establishing an e-health platform is to create an open and accessible ecosystem for convenient interaction between doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, drugstores, other participants of the healthcare market and citizens, both Sberbank clients and clients of other banks.

Sberbank Group is not planning to provide medical services independently, establish its own medical hospitals and compete with its clients – medical organisations or insurance companies. The bank will provide them with a tool for convenient and transparent interaction between each other and with clients. The ecosystem will aim to develop Russia’s healthcare industry and open opportunities to lower the cost of services and considerably improve their quality.

“Health is the main wealth of any person,” said CEO and Chairman of Sberbank’s Executive Board Herman Gref. “We are creating an ecosystem that will serve as the basis of the new quality and accessibility of healthcare services in Russia.
DocDoc.ru’s management has achieved impressive results independently, having built a leading company on the market from scratch. We are confident that thanks to cooperation with Sberbank Group the company will achieve all its most ambitious goals and unlock its large development potential.”

Founder and Director General of DocDoc.ru Dmitry Petrukhin said: “Sberbank has proved within a few years that it is possible to turn from a savings association into a modern financial institution and brand number one in the country. I am sure that thanks to new opportunities we together with Sberbank will make a breakthrough on the medical market, giving our patients access to the best medical practices in the world and helping hospitals and clients find each other, providing insurance companies and other market participants with a convenient interaction platform, and implementing first-class digital healthcare services.”

DocDoc.ru is an online medical appointment service accessible through a website and mobile application, which allows patients to choose a doctor on the basis of their internal ranking, feedback from other patients, location of the hospital, price, and appointment time. The company was founded in 2011 and is currently the indisputable leader in online medical appointments in Russia, having a market share of about 60%. More than 700,000 clients have used the service since its establishment, the number of appointments has exceeded 30,000.

CMS (Russia) acted as Sberbank’s legal consultant.

EY (Ernst&Young) acted as Sberbank’s financial consultant.