May 17 (Reuters) - The Dutch parent of tech group Yandex ( YNDX )

said on Friday it had successfully completed the first

phase of a $5.2 billion deal to sell the company, often dubbed

"Russia's Google", to a consortium of Russian investors.

The Dutch entity, Yandex NV ( YNDX ), said its stake in the Russian

business has now been reduced to 28% and that this would fall to

zero once the second phase completes in the first half of July.

It plans to invest some of the proceeds in its other

businesses and return the rest to its remaining shareholders,

probably through a share buyback.

Yandex ( YNDX ) is Russia's dominant tech company with an array of

services including ride-hailing and food delivery as well as

online search and advertising, where it has gained market share

since Alphabet's Google stopped selling online ads in

Russia after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

But Yandex's ( YNDX ) international ambitions - including the launch

of a worldwide fleet of driverless "robotaxis" - were knocked

back by the February 2022 invasion, which also halted the

trading of shares in Yandex NV ( YNDX ) on Nasdaq. Many of its employees

have left Russia.

Yandex ( YNDX ) has also sold its news feed and homepage to

state-controlled rival VK as part of moves to

depoliticise its Russian business.

Yandex ( YNDX ), which went public on Nasdaq in 2011 through Yandex

NV ( YNDX ) and had many Western investors among its shareholders, will

now come under the full control of Russian investors.

It is being bought by a consortium made up of senior Yandex

Russian management, a fund controlled by oil major Lukoil

and three other companies owned by businessmen

Alexander Chachava, Pavel Prass and Alexander Ryazanov.

The consortium this week announced terms for Yandex NV ( YNDX )

shareholders to either sell their shares or exchange them for

shares in the Russian entity, MKPAO Yandex.

The $5.2 billion sale is the largest deal by a Western-held

company to exit Russia since the start of the war. It reflects a

mandatory discount of 50%, as required by Russian law for the

sale of Russian assets by parent companies in what Moscow

considers "unfriendly" countries.

Yandex NV ( YNDX ) said it expected to rebrand itself and would

retain a portfolio of four international businesses plus

non-Russian assets, including a Finnish data centre, and

minority investments in other tech businesses.

It said it also hoped to resume trading in its shares on

Nasdaq.

(Additional reporting by Gleb Stolyarov

Editing by Susan Fenton)