LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - Two of Russia's largest

corporate exit deals since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine are up

for shareholder approval on Thursday, with "Russia's Google"

Yandex ( YNDX ) and major mining assets set to pass to Russian ownership

in transactions totalling around $9 billion.

Dutch-registered Yandex NV ( YNDX ), struck a

475-billion-rouble ($5.27 billion) deal to sell its local

subsidiary - Russia's most valuable technology asset - to

Russian investors, while precious metals producer Polymetal

International is selling its Russian assets to a

Siberian gold miner for about $3.7 billion.

Both deals, the result of months of negotiations, are at

heavily discounted prices - Yandex ( YNDX ) due to Kremlin demands on

foreign asset sales and Polymetal because of sanctions and a

small circle of buyers. That said, few other firms have managed

to extract as much from Russia.

In pitches to shareholders, Yandex ( YNDX ) listed seizures of assets

owned by Danone and Carlsberg and

restrictive laws Moscow has introduced since launching its war

in Ukraine, while Polymetal explicitly cited nationalisation

risk.

"Delaying the exit from the group's Russian assets could

jeopardise its overall feasibility," Polymetal said.

Shareholders stand to lose out. Yandex ( YNDX ), whose shareholders

include Fidelity, BlackRock ( BLK ), and Morgan Stanley ( MS ), was valued at

around $30 billion shortly before the war. The deal envisages a

market capitalisation of just over $10 billion.

But the agreed deal, taking into account the 50% discount

and highly restrictive framework, should have ample cause for

investor support, said proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis in a

report.

"The proposed arrangement appears to represent the most

reasonable outcome in a set of decidedly unfavourable conditions

over which Yandex ( YNDX ) wields substantially no influence," Glass

Lewis said.

The majority of votes received have been in favour, a person

with knowledge of the Yandex NV ( YNDX ) voting procedure told Reuters.

Polymetal is unlikely to face opposition from its new, major

shareholder, an Omani state-owned consortium, and the

transaction requires a simple majority.

Should the deals be approved, both companies would be free

to re-engage with Western markets for funding and partnerships

as they seek to rebuild.

Yandex NV ( YNDX ) plans to develop four nascent businesses, focused

on artificial intelligence, data labelling and self-driving

cars, internationally, while Polymetal wants to fund projects in

Kazakhstan.

Both companies have highlighted that the war and sanctions

are to blame for their respective predicaments.

"Your investment certainly has been decimated, but

management was not the root cause of this destruction,"

Polymetal CEO Vitaly Nesis told investors in February.

($1 = 90.1400 roubles)