Bagerstat Rus, a supplier of bread rolls for restaurants and shops, has changed owners again

Co-owner of the European Medical Center chain Igor Shilov, who bought out Bagerstat Rus, a supplier of buns for restaurants and stores, from the Swedish Lantmannen Unibake two months ago, decided to exit the asset. The new owners of the enterprise with an estimated value of about 3 billion rubles. became top managers of the Tavros agricultural holding. Experts note that the fast food segment is growing, but from an economic point of view it has limitations, in particular, to maintain demand it is necessary to maintain the price level for ingredients.

Top managers of the Tavros agricultural holding became the owners of the bakery products manufacturer Bagerstat Rus, a former division of the Swedish Lantmannen Unibake. The corresponding changes were made to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities on October 9. Information about the transaction was confirmed by two Kommersant sources in the market.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Irina Gavrilkina, Svetlana Doronina, Sergey Lazarenko and Andrey Shutilin each received 25% of NT LLC, which controls Bagerstat Rus. Irina Gavrilkina joined the audit commission of the Chishminsky Tavros sugar plant in 2021, the company’s report says. Andrey Shutilin, judging by the data on the holding’s website, heads the confectionery department of Tavros. Sergey Lazarenko owns the developer of IT solutions for agriculture STI, which is associated with Tavros. The agricultural holding did not answer Kommersant’s questions.

Until August 2023, the plant was part of the Lantmannen group, which decided to leave the Russian market. Then the owner of the enterprise became LLC NT, which at that time belonged to the co-owner of the European Medical Center (EMC) network Igor Shilov and EMC CEO Andrey Yanovsky. Mr. Yanovsky declined to comment.

A Kommersant source familiar with the situation claims that Bagerstat Rus was “originally purchased for resale.” Peregrine Capital Managing Director Dmitry Gabyshev believes that the first investor “could have received a good offer in the process.” The difference between the purchase price, taking into account the 50% discount required by the government commission for the control of foreign investment, and the sale price could be significant, he emphasizes. A Kommersant source estimates the market value of Bagerstat Rus at about 3 billion rubles. The company’s revenue in 2022 amounted to 2.26 billion rubles, gross profit – 1.17 billion rubles.

As Mr. Gabyshev notes, Bagerstat Rus is a well-established business, and the fast food segment in the Russian Federation “should grow in the near future.” According to Check Index, in January-June the number of purchases in such establishments across the Russian Federation increased by 8% year-on-year, the average check by 10%, to 439 rubles. The share of Russians visiting the chains “Vkusno – period”, Burger King and KFC (Rostic’s) at least once every six months reached a maximum of 45% by June, Romir reported. The president of the Russian Union of Bakers, Alexey Lyalin, says that sales of sandwich buns are also growing in retail, and competition in the segment has weakened after the departure of some foreign brands.

At the same time, CEO of Black Star Foods Yuri Levitas says that traffic in the fast food segment depends on the price level, so it is important for suppliers to maintain acceptable prices for products. In addition, from October 1, a number of restaurant chains have already raised prices due to an increase in the VAT rate on sandwiches from 10% to 20%. RestCon CEO Elena Perepelitsa also believes that in order to maintain Bagerstat Rus’ market share, it will be necessary to maintain the price level. Rustem Mirgalimov already owns a distributor of products, including for Arosa restaurants. As Ms. Perepelitsa notes, companies can have synergy by saving on logistics when crossing the geography of clients.

Anatoly Kostyrev, Alina Savitskaya