On May 22nd, McDonalds agreed to sell the entire franchise, all 850 restaurants, residing in the Russian Federation to billionaire Alexander Govor. The actual trade value was not disclosed, but according to sources within the McDonalds corporation, the company would have accepted a 1.4B USD deal. Before the McDonalds pull-out of Russia, in protest to the invasion of Ukraine, Govor operated 25 restaurants in Siberia, in cities such as Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo, Tomsk, Novokuznetsk, Barnaul and Berdsk.
However, the sale was not finalized until the Federal Antimonopoly Service signed off on the deal in order to ensure fair business practices inside Russia. Today they announced they have approved the sale.
According to the department, “the deal will not lead to a restriction of competition in the catering market. It will save jobs for employees and ensure the further activities of the backbone organization within the country,” the report says.
The structure of the deal says that Club Hotel LLC, Govors company, will acquire a 100% stake in McDonald’s LLC and DVRP LLC. LLC “McDonald’s” will change its name to LLC “System PBO”, according to the FAS report.
Under the terms of the deal, Govor acquires the entire restaurant portfolio of the chain and will further develop it under a new brand. The buyer is expected to retain the network’s staff and equivalent employee terms for at least two years. It will also fund employee salaries until the deal closes and existing liabilities to suppliers, landlords and utilities. These 850 stores employed more than 66,000 employees throughout the Russian Federation.
It is assumed that restaurants under the new brand will begin to open by June 12.
