Wal-Mart Intends to Buy Russian Lenta Stores

One of the world's largest retailers - the American company Wal-Mart Stores Inc. intends to acquire 100% stake in the Russian grocery retailer Lenta. It is reported that currently the company has conducted preliminary discussions on this issue. 

According to sources close to the negotiations the official conclusion of the transaction may take from several months to a year. It is also reported that the consultant of Wal-Mart in the negotiations is a Swiss bank Credit Suisse. Formal negotiations on the management level of U.S. and Russian companies have not yet begun. The amount of possible transaction is also not reported.  

The company "Lenta" was founded in 1993. The founder of LLC "Lenta" is Lenta Ltd., Registered in the British Virgin Islands. Head office of the Russian company is located in St. Petersburg. There are 36 stores of the network in Russia, including 14 in St. Petersburg. Sales of Lenta rose by 9% over the previous year and reached 55 billion 600 million rubles in 2009.  

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retail chain, which includes more than 7 thousand stores in 14 countries (4,1 thousand in the U.S. and the rest - in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras , Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, UK, India). Among the stores there are  hypermarkets and supermarkets that sell food and industrial goods. Total staff of the company is 2.1 million people (of which 1.4 million are in the U.S.).

Nat Lawyer
Unel Legal Consulting