Lenta (trading company)

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Lenta is one of the largest Russian wholesale and retail chains (currently in third place behind Metro and Auchan in terms of sales ). It operates 77 cash & carry wholesale stores in 45 cities as well as ten hypermarkets in the Moscow area and employs 23,000 people (as of the end of 2013). The head office is in Saint Petersburg , but the parent company is registered in the British Virgin Islands for tax reasons . The general manager and CEO is the Dutchman Jan Dunning.

history

Lenta was founded in 1993 by Oleg Zherebtsov in Saint Petersburg and registered as a trademark in 1994. He opened the first hypermarket in 1999.

In 2007, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development acquired a minority stake (11%) in the company for $ 125 million after it had previously granted multiple loans. The US private investor August Meyer held 36.4%.

After sales negotiations with the American retail giant Wal-Mart failed, the American financial investor Texas Pacific Group, together with the state-controlled Russian bank VTB , took over the founder's 35% stake, of which TPG the greater part, and VTB 10%. In September 2010, there were massive disputes between these and Meyer about the ownership structure and management, which resulted in a two-time violent occupation of the administration, the appointment of a counter-CEO and downright recapture by the CEO Dunning appointed by TPG using bodyguards, tear gas and smoke bombs culminated. In order to clarify the balance of power in the company and thus avoid further disputes, TPG, VTB and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development also acquired Meyer's stake of 44% for 1.14 billion dollars in 2011.

In 2012 the turnover was the equivalent of 2.7 billion euros. The net profit in 2013 was the equivalent of around 150 million euros, an increase of 38% compared to the previous year.

At the end of 2013, 65% of the shares in the company were held by financial investors, of which the vast majority (over 57%) was held by TPG and around 7.8% by VTB. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development holds around 20%. In February 2014 Lenta went public on the London Stock Exchange, TPG, VTB and Europäische Aufbaubank have announced that they will sell shares.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ European Bank for Reconstruction and Development invests 125 million dollars in the Russian grocer Lenta ( Memento from February 18, 2014 in the web archive archive.today )
  2. ↑ TPG calls meetings because a dispute in the Lenta shareholders' meeting triggered violence
  3. ↑ Back to the 90s (English) ( Memento from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Russian retailer: Lenta goes on the London Stock Exchange . Handelsblatt, February 3, 2014