The main event of the week was the news that Alexander Zanadvorov got an offer to sell 74.8% of the “Seventh Continent” shares. The French Carrefour, the world’s second retailer, made this offer. Zanadvorov’s margin call on the Deutsche Bank credit at $560 million gave Carrefour a chance to make such a purchase. The next day the shares of the “Seventh Continent” went up at more than 20% at MICEX.
The economical crisis hasn’t influenced the plans of some retailers. Metro Group is going to open Metro Cash & Carry in Tomsk. The holding “Prodovolstvennaya Birzha” launched a new supermarket network “E-da!” in St. Petersburg. The company “Stockmann” has closed one of its stores Vero Moda/Jack&Jones in St. Petersburg, but still confirms the development of the Lindex brand.
The management company ALPI-Invest Ltd. owning the ALPI network in Krasnoyarsk dishonored the 3-year bond coupon of the first series at more than 89.75 million rubles. ALPI Public Corporation paid 2 million rubles of the land tax arrears to the Kemerovo city budget. This was the land fee for the objects belonging to them. Sberbank started selling the mortgaged realty of the ALPI product network: the information about selling 4 retailer’s stores of the total area about 15 000 square meters and a ground area appeared in the internet-site of the East-Siberian bank subdivision.
The company “Banana-Mama” couldn’t pass the offer of the second bond issue at 1.5 billion rubles. This is already the second bond default made by the company: last November Banana-Mama didn’t fulfill the offer of the debut lend at 1 billion rubles. The company also wasn’t able to pay the coupon yield at 86 million rubles for this issue.
The crisis resulted in the constant increase of the suppliers’ actions against the retailers. From the beginning of 2009 the Voronezh court of arbitration registered more than 10 actions from the foodstuffs suppliers about the collection of debts from Vester-Tchernozemye Ltd., which is an affiliate structure of the Vester group from Kaliningrad. During the current year more than 40 actions have already been brought in against the retailers from St. Petersburg. Among the product networks Lenta Ltd. has got the largest amount of actions, among the non-product ones SantaHouse is the leader.
Most part of Betalink stores has been closed, and the company’s personnel had to take the indefinite unpaid leave. The reason was the retailer’s debt before the banks and the suppliers at more than $160 million. MTS broke the franchise agreement with Betalink due to its economical inexpediency and didn’t prolong the agreement on selling only its contracts. The mobile operator demands to return the loan at 840.77 million rubles. The Federal Antimonopoly Service has granted a petition of MTS mobile operator to buy 100% of the authorized capital shares of Eldorado-Center Ltd. and 100% of the authorized capital shares of Salon Svyazi Eldorado Ltd.
Dmitry Budakov, the holder of 61% of Spar Moscow Holding, has pledged 25% of this holding to the ANN investment company owned by the businessman Alexander Mamut and borrowed $10 million from the businessman. In case Budakov doesn’t pay the credit by May, 2nd, he will lose control of the network.
The matter about Chichvarkin has received a new round: the Chichvarkins’ platinum credit cards and £6000 in cash were withdrawn from the nanny of the businessman’s children in the airport. Then a search was performed in the house and office of Natalia Ikonnikova, Chichvarkin’s assistant. She spent the whole day as a witness at the interrogation.
Within the bounds of the state support program Sberbank approved crediting GK Victoria at 2.7 milliard roubles.
Within the bounds of the state support program Sberbank approved crediting GK Victoria at 2.7 milliard roubles.
