Billa, the Central European arm of German retail giant Rewe, wants to take over Russian supermarket chain Citystore. Moscow-based Citystore confirmed talks with Billa were being held.
In addition, Russia’s competition regulator, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, confirmed that Billa has requested approval to take over the chain. Experts in Russian media estimate the value of the deal at US$70-100m.
Citystore is owned by Turkish conglomerate Enka and consists of 17 supermarkets, all of which are based in Moscow or the region of Moscow.
Billa entered the Russian market in 2004 and operates 72 supermarkets, the lion share of which are also located in the Russian capital.
Source: www.just-food.com