X5 buys operator of Victoria and Deshevo stores

MOSCOW. Aug 1 (Interfax) - X5 has agreed to buy Victoria Baltia, the retailer said in a statement.

Victoria Baltia operates the Victoria stores in the Kaliningrad Region, Moscow, and the Moscow Region; the Deshevo stores in the Kaliningrad Region; and two distribution centers and the CASH hypermarket in Kaliningrad.

Russia's Federal Anti-monopoly Service (FAS) has already approved the deal that includes 118 stores with retail space covering 92,000 square meters, including leased objects. Additionally, two distribution centers in the Kaliningrad Region covering 14,200 sqm will be transferred to X5.

Victoria Baltia's current management team will continue to operate the company.

FAS's press service in turn said that it had approved the deal subject to compliance with the regulator's instructions.

"Given that X5 Group's share has exceeded 25% of the volume of all food products sold in monetary terms for 2022 within the boundaries of the Moscow Region's Dolgoprudny city district, Victoria Baltia must transfer the retail facilities located on the territory to third parties prior to completion of the transaction," the watchdog said in a statement.

The FAS has additionally prescribed to extend all of the retailer's existing voluntary obligations related to pricing to certain positions of socially significant goods. X5 must also fulfill all the agreements into which the acquired company has entered with its counterparties.

According to the Unified State Registry of Legal Entities (USRLE), Victoria Baltia LLC was registered in 2005. At the end of October 2022, eight individuals co-owned the company, namely Sergei Studennikov with 45%, Nikolai Tyaka with 37.2%, and others.

Victoria Baltia LLC generated revenue of 40.9 billion rubles in 2022 and net profit of 846.6 million rubles.

X5 Group manages the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, and Chizhik retail chain stores, and is developing the Vprok.ru, 5Post, and other e-commerce projects.

X5 was operating 22,700 stores and 59 distribution centers as on June 30, 2023.