Magnit becomes owner of KazanExpress

Magnit officially became the owner of KazanExpress marketplace from Tatarstan. According to SPARK-Interfax’s data, the changes made three days, on 7 November.

99.9% of the online store’s authorised capital now belongs to Tander JSC — a subsidiary of Magnit JSC. The revenue of the new main owner of KazanExpress in 2022 was nearly 2.1 trillion rubles, its profit is 39.2 billion rubles. Another 0.1% is now owned by Celta, Tander’s subsidiary. The company’s revenue last year is assessed at 43.1 billion rubles, its profit is 189.9 million.

As Magnit said, the deal was approved by the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service. The retailer also obtained copyright and all the infrastructure of KazanExpress — a technological platform, order pick-up points, warehouses and the car fleet.

“KazanExpress will continue its operation as part of Magnit’s separate business division under the current management. At the same time, the app, the website, the order pick-up points, warehouses and KazanExpress’ own transport will change their design and get a new brand of Magnit Market in the next few months. In the future KazanExpress will be integrated into Magnit’s OMNI application,” the message reads.

As for financial results of KazanExpress, the marketplace earned 2.8 billion rubles in 2022. The loss was 1.6 billion rubles. Its net assets are evaluated at 1.5 billion rubles.

It should be reminded that the Magnit deal was sealed on 19 October night. The sum isn’t revealed. However, experts evaluate it at 10 billion rubles, it will be funded with the retailer’s own money. According to Magnit’s representative, the retailer is going to launch its own Magnit Market marketplace based on the new asset.

Not all marketplace sellers responded to the sale positively. Some complain about payment delays, while some don’t see this step as promising that will allow Tatarstan sellers to go to Moscow and Saint Petersburg, as KazanExpress co-founder Linar Khusnullin says.