Hardware store chain Obi gives up branches in Russia – entrepreneur buys them for the equivalent of 10 euros

Created: 08/18/2022, 12:17 p.m

By: Julian Baumann

The hardware store chain Obi has given up all branches in Russia.

An entrepreneur took over 60 percent, but he is not allowed to use the name.

© IMAGO/Kirill Kallinikov

The German hardware store chain Obi has given up its branches in Russia, including the range.

An entrepreneur took it over for the symbolic price of the equivalent of 10 euros.

Stuttgart/Wermelskirchen – As part of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, many German companies withdrew from Russia and stopped doing business with the country.

For example, Mercedes-Benz has stopped deliveries to Russia and the software group SAP has also withdrawn after initial hesitation.

Porsche boss Oliver Blume also said: "As long as there is war, there will be no deliveries".

The German hardware store chain Obi, headquartered in Wermelskirchen (North Rhine-Westphalia), has gone a whole step further and announced four months ago that it wanted to give away all its branches in Russia.

A Russian entrepreneur took over the former Obi stores for the symbolic price of 10 euros, according to the

.

However, he is not allowed to use the name of the German hardware store chain.

Obi markets in Russia: Entrepreneur takes over 60 percent, but is not allowed to use brand names

After Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24, Western countries imposed sweeping sanctions on the aggressor.

Many German companies that have locations in Russia tried to cut ties with the warmonger as quickly as possible.

In order to speed up this process, Obi announced that it intends to give up its 27 DIY stores in Russia, along with their product range.

"All markets were already closed on March 17, 2022, and yesterday all legal entities were transferred to an investor without payment of the purchase price," the company said in April when asked by

.

Now it is known who will lead the former Obi branches in Russia in the future.

Russian businessman Josef Liokumovich told the Russian edition of Forbes on Monday, August 15 that he had acquired 60 percent of Obi's Russian business for the symbolic price of the equivalent of 10 euros.

In return, he replaced the business's debts of around 30 million euros.

It was important to the German hardware store chain, which belongs to the Tengelmann Group, that the brand name should no longer be used in Russia.

Liokumovich assured the company that.

He plans to reopen the branches under a new name, as reported by BW24.

Russia business: Not all German companies have withdrawn

, it is not known

who will take over the other 40 percent of Obi's Russian business .

What is certain, however, is that Obi will no longer conduct business in the country even after the end of the war.

"This means that the Obi Group is not directly or indirectly active in Russia after the transaction," the company said.

But almost six months after the start of the Ukraine war, there are still German companies that continue to have business relations with Russia.

This includes, for example, the wholesale company Metro with its headquarters in Düsseldorf.

Metro continues to employ people in Ukraine.

"Since the war started, the first thing we do in the first morning conference at 6 a.m. is whether all our employees are still alive," Olena Vdovychenko, Metro CEO in Ukraine, told WirtschaftsWoche in

.

The chocolate manufacturer Ritter Sport also continues to deliver to Russia.

This brought clear criticism to the company from Waldenbuch.

Ritter Sport then announced that it intended to donate the income from the Russian business to charitable organizations.