Rostelecom purchases 51% of digital retail solutions developer Astor
MOSCOW. Sept 12 (Interfax) - PJSC Rostelecom has purchased controlling shares in ASTOR, a developer of integrated automation solutions for retail enterprises, Rostelecom said in a statement.
According to data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE), Rostelecom's venture capital fund, CommIT Capital, purchased a 51% stake in Astor Tech LLC on September 11. Astor Tech CEO Dmitry Galaktionov retained an 18% share in the company, with a further 17% held by Alexander Bubnov and 14% by Semyon Urbakh.
The size of the deal remains undisclosed.
Rostelecom said in the statement that Astor would allow it to provide full-cycle digitalization solutions for Russian retail companies.
"The partnership with Astor is a consistent and logical step in implementing our strategy. We have set ourselves the goal of expanding the portfolio of high-tech digital solutions that we offer clients in key sectors of the Russian economy. We are sure that by uniting the efforts and technologies of Rostelecom and Astor, we will reinforce our position as a reliable provider of digital services for retail clients and will be able to offer the market 100% Russian-developed integrated solutions that combine innovation with global best practices for automating business processes, improving efficiency and boosting sales for our clients," Dmitry Reidman, director of PJSC Rostelecom's digital business development cluster X. Technologies, is quoted as saying in the statement.
Astor is a Russian developer of ERP and other integrated systems which use AI to automate retail business management processes, targeted towards medium and large businesses in the B2B sector. It offers integration with key geographic information systems for retail.
Astor's digital ecosystem, Retail Suite.Global, comprises a set of integrated IT solutions encompassing a range of tasks which modern retail companies deal with. These solutions can take care of basic sales management and omnichannel processes as well as the full end-to-end automation of retail business functions using artificial intelligence and big data analysis. From 2000, the Astor team has implemented over 750 projects, including for major retailers in Russia and CIS countries.
Astor Tech LLC was registered in May 2008 and has charter capital of 29,100 rubles. The company's revenue fell 20.9% to 506.8 million rubles in 2024, while net profit fell 89.5% to 34.3 million rubles.
