By John Meyer, consultant in financial affairs – Eurasia Business News, October 24, 2024. Article No 1275.
The Mulliez family, which owns Auchan Retail, has decided to put up a business for sale in Russia, Le Figaro reported, citing sources. According to the French newspaper, the owners of the retailer have already selected two potential buyers, who, however, have not been agreed with the Russian authorities.
Twenty-two years after opening its first hypermarket 20 kilometers from Moscow, and two and a half years after the start of the war in Ukraine, the French distributor owned by the Mulliez family has finally started its retirement from Russia.
It has become obvious to Auchan that it is becoming untenable to continue its activities in Russia, complying with all the sanctions imposed by the EU on Moscow, Le Figaro notes. According to the newspaper, the group has already selected two potential buyers and expects to leave Russia without significant losses. Auchan, the newspaper writes, is in the final stages of negotiations on the sale of assets. The French company has a Russian division, Auchan LLC, which has been operating autonomously since 2022.
According to the interlocutor of Le Figaro, Auchan strictly complies with the sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia. “Auchan does not invest money in local businesses and does not return a penny. Which puts it at a very disadvantage compared to local market participants owned by Russian oligarchs, who cannot do anything with their money except invest it in their own company,” a source close to the company told the newspaper.
Earlier, representatives of Auchan have repeatedly stated that the company does not intend to leave the Russian market.
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Founded in 1961, the French retail chain Auchan has been operating in the Russian market since 2002. According to the company itself, in the Russian Federation they have 230 stores in 100 cities of the country.
In April 2024, the French company closed a deal to sell a subsidiary of Ceetrus. The new owner was the Shopping Galleries company, whose ultimate beneficiary is a businessman from Tatarstan Tagir Shaimardanov. At that time, market experts estimated the cost of Ceetrus at about 20 billion rubles (around 200 million euros).
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© Copyright 2024 – Eurasia Business News. Article no. 1275.