Eddy about Real's break-up: the future of a number of branches is probably uncertain - because of Russia sanctions
Created: 03/28/2022Updated: 03/28/2022 18:03
Real is smashed - but now the plan is crumbling: Due to the sanctions against Russia, the billion dollar deal with a real estate company could fail.
Dusseldorf – It has been clear for a long time that things will change at Real.
Various stores have already been sold, and it is always known that other branches are closing.
The new owner
SCP
, a Russian investor, originally wanted the supermarket giant to be liquidated by June 2022 - dozens of stores have already been taken over by Edeka, Globus and Co.
It was only announced last August that Kaufland, already the new owner of many locations, will add another 22 branches of the Real retail chain to its portfolio.
Real: Sanctions in the Ukraine war shake up company sales
While customers say goodbye to the Real they trust with mixed feelings, the consequences of the Ukraine war are shaking up negotiations for 34 Real locations in Germany.
The Luxembourg real estate company
X+Bricks
, according to
Lebensmittel Zeitung
, had actually reached an agreement with SCP on the acquisition of the 34 branches - albeit subject to financing.
And it is precisely this financing that could now become problematic.
Because the EU sanctions against Russia, which were imposed because of the Ukraine war, make it seem unlikely that Russian investors Felix and Vladimir Yevtushenkov will participate.
And now it gets a bit complicated:
Vladimir Yevtushenkov (left) and Felix Yevtushenkov.
© Collage Peter Kovalev/TASS Host Photo Agency/ITAR-TASS/imago and Stoyan Vassev/TASS PUBLICATION/imago
Real: Russian investors withdraw - sanctions in the Ukraine war alleged cause
When Real was bought at the time - still in the hands of
Metro
- X+Bricks acted as a partner of SCP;
the takeover of
Sistema PJSFC
was secured .
"Behind SCP is the Russian investment company Sistema PJSFC," reports
handelsblatt.com
.
Vladimir Yevtushenkov is a major shareholder and CEO of Sistema;
until recently he was also the main owner of SCP with over 80%, his son Felix held the rest, according to
businessinsider.de
.
Now, however, the two billionaires are said to have divested their assets shortly after the start of the Ukraine war, allegedly to avoid sanctions.
Since February 27, 2022, the French Marjorie Brabet-Friel, who lives in London, has been the sole holder of all SCP shares.
"No Russian company exercises any form of control over the SCP Group," an SCP spokesman told
Lebensmittel Zeitung
.
All shares that "the Yevtushenkovs and Sistema [...] had in X+Bricks [have been] sold in the meantime ,
" reports
chip.de.
This information, which cannot be easily understood in the corporate network of the group, assuming it is correct, means that the Russian investors are completely out.
So the deal that X+Bricks has secured with SCP can only work if the real estate company can raise the purchase price on its own - and that's not exactly low.
Real: The future of the retail chain is open again - financing options are being examined
One billion euros - that's the sum with which the planned deal for the 34 Real locations will be valued.
It is questionable how X+Bricks intends to raise this sum without Russian help.
As early as October last year, it was said that "we are currently examining strategic options for financing the Real acquisition".
Board member Sascha Wilhelm is now involved on a larger scale in X+Bricks, and the “FDP treasurer Harald Christ is the owner of a golden share, which gives the two 20 percent of the resulting profits in the event of an IPO,”
reports
chip.de.
How things will continue with the Real stores, whether they will be sold, closed or continued, remains uncertain for the time being.
