– We are considering opportunities for such partnerships in all Russian regions and in some cases, to study the position of the regulator, we send petitions to the FAS, – a representative of the X5 Group said, declining to comment on the deal itself.
Curiously, X5 Group wanted to acquire Tamerlan back in 2014. However, the transaction did not take place: the buyer’s representative announced the termination of negotiations with the LLC due to the inability to agree with the partner on acceptable terms of the transaction.
New rumors about the sale appeared at the end of last year, but then the main founder (85%) of Tamerlane, the ex-mayor of Volgograd Evgeny Ishchenko, called them only rumors.
By the way, the personality of Ishchenko himself is interesting. He is a graduate of the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University, the creator of MDM Bank. In the 90s, he was twice elected to the State Duma, including from the Liberal Democratic Party, being an adviser on economic issues to Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
In 2004-2006 he was the mayor of Volgograd, and his work was accompanied by a huge number of scandals. In 2006, he was arrested, including on suspicion of illegal business activities. The investigation claimed that the mayor patronized the Tamerlan LLC company and profited from the activities of the Volgograd Pyaterochka chain of stores.
In October 2006, he resigned as mayor. In 2007, Ishchenko was sentenced to a year in prison for illegal business and possession of ammunition. His lawyer was Pavel Astakhov, and the case became the basis for his novel The Mayor. After prison, Ishchenko left Volgograd, but returned, focusing on entrepreneurial activities.
“Tamerlane”
“Tamerlan” has been operating since 1999. Then the main type of its activity was the wholesale supply of food and alcoholic beverages in Volgograd and the Volgograd, Astrakhan, Rostov regions, the Republic of Kalmykia, as well as the Stavropol and Krasnodar regions.
In 2003, LLC signed a commercial concession with LLC Agro-Torg for the right to use the trademark in the territory of Volgograd and the Volgograd region. After that, the company opened the first two stores and until 2011 was the largest franchisee of the X5 Group.
A year later, the number of outlets grew to 32, and the company received several prestigious awards as a regional retailer.
By 2013, the network included 212 stores. In addition, a distribution center for 30 thousand square meters was put into operation. m with food, alcohol warehouses, a warehouse for household chemicals and related products, as well as refrigeration chambers and three banana aeration chambers.
The vehicle fleet of LLC consisted of about 100 trucks of various tonnage.
In the same year, the company rebranded: the stores received a new name “Purchase”, and yellow and green became the corporate colors.
Three years later, the number of stores increased to 216, including through the opening of outlets in the Rostov and Astrakhan regions. In 2018, a store appeared in Elista, and the total number was 292.
Judging by the company’s website, now the network has 301 stores, of which the lion’s share – 280 – falls on Volgograd and the region. Although there is information in the media that now the retailer owns 320 Pokupochka stores, PokupAlko alcohol stores and Ga-ga culinary production.
Some of them, by the way, are undergoing rebranding, in which the interior and exterior are made in a “fashionable loft style” with high ceilings, panoramic windows, wood trim and carpet-like flooring.
In the stores of the chain you can buy hot tandoor dishes, fresh meat, fish and alcohol. The format is combined with the gastronomy cafe “Ga-ga”: purchased food, including shish kebab and shawarma, can be eaten here at the tables.
Vedomosti expert, General Director of Infoline-analytics Mikhail Burmistrov believes that Tamerlan occupies a strong position in several regions at once – in the Volgograd region (where the company’s share in the grocery retail market is about 8%), Astrakhan region ( about 3%) and in Kalmykia (the share exceeds 5%).
“This is a strong local player with good stores that fully meet the standards of Pyaterochka and even, possibly, Perekrestok,” he notes.
In his opinion, depending on the structure of the transaction, the objects can be effectively integrated into the X5 Group’s business and strengthen the network’s position in the southern region.
Burmistrov estimates the market value of Tamerlane at 4-6 billion rubles. According to him, the company reformatted part of the Pokupochka stores into PukupAlko and, due to the expanded assortment with alcohol and food items, was able to increase revenue by 20%. As a result, the retailer’s turnover exceeded 26 billion rubles. per year excluding VAT.
The revenue of Tamerlan LLC in 2021 increased by 4% to RUB 21.7 billion. Net profit also decreased by 41%, to 227 million rubles.
There are no Pokupochka stores in Saratov, but here, in the Pyaterochka format, the Sputnik chain of stores is being developed, receiving, among other things, profitable land plots. Whether it will be of interest to X5 Group in connection with expansion into the regions is still unknown. Recall that in 2019, the company moved away most of the premises of the Saratov network “Family”, which belonged to the brothers Leonid and Evgeny Minkov.
