French Retailer Auchan Buys 20% Of Ukraine's Furshet Supermarket Chain

Auchan announced yesterday that it had agreed to purchase a 20% stake in Anthousa’s flagship supermarket chain Furshet. The structure of the deal will form a partnership between Auchan (along with its entertainment center development arm, Immochan) and Furshet, by which they will create two new companies. One will carry the Aushan brand and be controlled by Auchan (66%), Furshet (19%) and Furshet Chairman Ihor Balenko (15%). The second chain will consist of Furshet and Auchan stores controlled by Auchan (50%), Balenko (40%) and undisclosed partners (10%). According to Auchan the deal will be finalized in June. Exact terms of the deal were not disclosed. Auchan Group announced last week that it plans to open its first hypermarket in Kyiv by January 2008. As part of its Ukraine plans Auchan will open another three hypermarkets with 14 ths square meters of retail space each later. Anthousa has 69 stores in operating in Ukraine and one in Moldova. Alexander Romanov: This looks like a win-win deal as Furshet needs the money from this sale to pay for its 70% expansion plans this year, and Auchan gains the local know-how of its new partner. The fact that Furshet focuses mainly on supermarkets while Auchan is mainly interested in developing large hypermarkets and entertainment centers should allow them to avoid competition by focusing on their own niches.