Sberbank of Russia (MISX:SBER) may acquire CITILINK, now a part of group Merlion, business daily Kommersant reported on January 11, 2021 citing sources. Experts think the sale of the asset presumably worth about USD 1 billion would help the company keep afloat its core business of IT distribution and would help Sberbank strengthen its positions in the e-commerce segment, where it will be able to compete with Yandex.Market, Ozon, and Wildberries. In late 2020, Sberbank held a pre-sale audit and assessment of one of the country's largest IT distributors, one of the sources said. Another source said Sberbank is in talks to acquire retail assets of Merlion, which include Citilink, electronics retail chain Positronica, and service centers IT Clinics. A Merlion spokesperson denied any negotiations on the sale of assets or assessment of the financial state. A Sberbank spokesperson did not comment on the possible acquisition, but said that in late December 2020 Sberbank and Merlion announced a strategic partnership, under which the distributor's capacities will be integrated into the bank's yet-to-be-built e-commerce business.