MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) - Russia's Mercury Group said it has reached an agreement to acquire a 50.96 pct stake in OJSC Dixy Group for an undisclosed amount.
The transaction still awaits approval from Russian regulators, but both companies said in a statement that it is expected to close before Feb 1, 2008.
Mercury will make the acquisition by purchasing 100 pct of British Virgin Islands-based Dixy Retail Ltd, which holds a 50.96 pct stake in the Dixy Group via another holding company.
Dixy Group raised 360 mln usd in May via an initial public offering (IPO) on Moscow's RTS and MICEX exchanges. Currently, about 48 pct of its shares are in free float.
According to the company's current share price, its market capitalization is 870 mln usd.
This indicates that the market value of the stake which Mercury Group is acquiring is worth about 443 mln usd, Interfax calculated.
Dixy is one of Russia's largest retailers, with 372 outlets, including 8 hypermarkets.
Its 2006 sales totaled 1.01 bln usd, and in the first nine months of this year turnover reached 990 mln usd.
'Investments in the Russian retail sector are of strategic interest to the Mercury Group,' Mercury first vice president Sergey Katsiev said in a statement.
'We intend to use our capabilities to create a leading player in the Russian food retail market using the publicly-listed Dixy Group as a basis. We highly value the achievements of the company's management team and are certain that we are acquiring a high-quality asset.'
Mercury Group is a major Russian holding company with annual revenues of more than 8 bln usd.
It controls a range of assets including the Megapolis trading company, Orton Oil and the Moscow Wine and Brandy Distillery KiN. alfred.kueppers@thomson.com amk/slm COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
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