PRESS: Ulmart may buy stake from minor holder to settle dispute

MOSCOW, Mar 23 (PRIME) -- Russian online retailer Ulmart could buy out a 38.5% stake in its capital from Mikhail Vasinkevich, estimated at 6–8 billion rubles, because of his conflict with other shareholder Dmitry Kostygin, business daily Kommersant reported on Thursday.

Two unnamed creditors of Ulmart told the daily that Vasinkevich and Kostygin have come to terms to settle the dispute. “There is an agreement without a real deal,” one of them said. Kostygin said the parties signed a framework agreement to buy Vasinkevich’s stake in Ulmart by the company.

“More money should be brought to the company; more shares will be issued, and a part of them will be purchased,” a person familiar with the situation said.

Kostygin and his partner August Meyer own jointly 61.5% of Ulmart’s parent company Ulmart Holding Ltd., and Vasinkevich’s firm holds the remaining 38.5%. A conflict between them sparked in 2016 and resulted in a blocking of the company’s management work.

“Ulmart is experiencing difficulties in operating activity, and the company has lost leadership in online,” Infoline-analytics’s General Director Mikhail Burmistrov said.

Ulmart’s value, excluding debts, is at 15–20 billion rubles, which means that Vasinkevich’s stake is worth 5.8–7.7 billion rubles. The purchase of the stake from the minority holder by the company itself lacks logic, Burmistrov said.

“An optimal solution would be a consolidation of the stake by Dmitry Kostygin and August Meyer or appearance of a new shareholder that will hold the stake prior to an IPO,” he said.

(57.6360 rubles – U.S. $1)

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