Moscow, 15 December 2017 – X5 Retail Group, ("X5" or the "Company"), a leading Russian food retailer (LSE ticker: FIVE), and O’KEY, one of the leading food retailers, announce that they have reached an agreement for X5 to acquire the supermarkets business currently operating under the O’KEY brand. Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service ("FAS") has approved the deal.
The business being acquired consists of 32 supermarkets, including 18 in St Petersburg, four in Moscow, two in Volgograd, and one each in the Moscow and Leningrad regions, Astrakhan, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Togliatti, Krasnodar and Novocherkassk. Under the terms of the transaction, X5 will also acquire the real estate (supermarket buildings) for 14 stores (13 in St Petersburg and one in Moscow). All of these supermarkets are due to be integrated into the Perekrestok chain.
The legal advisors for this transaction include White & Case (for X5) and Herbert Smith Freehills (for O’KEY).
Igor Shekhterman, X5 Retail Group CEO, said: "This transaction is fully in line with our strategy of strengthening Perekrestok’s position as the leading supermarket chain in Russia. While we maintain a focus on organic growth for X5, we miss no opportunities to acquire promising locations in strategically important regions."
Miodrag Borojević, O’KEY CEO, said: "We are pleased to have reached the agreement with X5 Retail Group to sell our supermarket business. The renewed company structure based on this sale will allow us to focus on the core strategic priorities of the business – efficiency improvement at compact city hypermarkets and accelerating the expansion of our discounters."