25 Sep 2024 11:37

VNV Global sells stake in Monopoly Group, shares now quasi-treasury stock - board chairman

MOSCOW. Sept 25 (Interfax) - The ownership structure of Monopoly Group has become fully Russian following the buyout of a stake in the transport and logistics group from Sweden's VNV Global, Monopoly Group founder and board chairman Ilya Dmitriyev told Interfax.

JSC Monopoly was controlled by Dmitriyev, group CEO Yekaterina Mikhailova, Siman Povarenkin's Acmero Capital and Baring Vostok through Cyprus-based Glazifer Limited until the end of 2023, when Glazifer Limited sold 90.9% of shares in the company to its ultimate beneficiaries, Monopoly reported in its consolidated financial statements.

The remaining 9.1% of shares in the company were acquired by subsidiary Monopoly.Online LLC by the beginning of April 2024.

"At the end of 2023-beginning of 2024, the company restructured its ownership and now there are no foreign shareholders in our shareholder structure. Specifically, we bought out the stake from Swedish fund VNV Global, which [acquired 9.1% of shares in the group] as part of an equity injection in 2019. Now this stake belongs to Monopoly as quasi-treasury stock and we're a completely Russian group with Russian ownership," Dmitriyev said.

VNV Global, known as Vostok New Ventures until the middle of 2020, was founded as Vostok Nafta in 1996 by entrepreneur Adolf Lundin to invest in the fuel and energy sector of Russia and other CIS countries. Vostok Nafta was a leading player on the Russian stock market and its key investment was a stake in Russian gas giant Gazprom .

In 2007, the fund decided to spin off assets not related to Gazprom into a new company called New Vostok Nafta, while the "old" Vostok Nafta was renamed Vostok Gas. In 2012-2013, Vostok Nafta sold off its whole portfolio and transformed into Vostok New Ventures, a private equity fund focused on companies in the new economy.