Decathlon may be banned from selling stores one at a time – Kommersant

The government commission may ban Decathlon from selling stores by the piece, so that the chain does not try to “get around the mandatory conditions for the sale of the business.” This was stated “Izvestia” Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Viktor Yevtukhov on the sidelines of the Russian-Chinese Business Forum.

The Deputy Minister expressed the opinion that the practice of selling stores one at a time “will have to be suspended.” “So that it does not turn out that the trading network is trying to circumvent the mandatory conditions for the sale of a business. That is, to avoid a transaction that takes into account the full value of the assets. So after all, you can sell all the stores – each separately – and leave the country without giving your customers a 50% discount and without paying deductions to the treasury of 10% of the amount, ”explained Mr. Yevtukhov.

According to him, Decathlon needs to decide whether they continue to work in Russia or leave the Russian market completely. He believes that such “piece” transactions for the sale of property assets should be an exception. “Otherwise, they become similar to deals covering the true goals of companies leaving the market, that is, to “sham” deals,” Viktor Evtukhov explained.

The network of sports and travel stores Decathlon suspended the supply of goods to Russia at the end of March 2022. In January, RBC sources reportedthat Decathlon will sell the business in Russia, its value was estimated at 10-15 billion rubles. The company owns 26 objects. In May, Izvestia wrote that Decathlon had found a buyer for five stores in Russia, but details of the deal were not given.

On the development of the situation – in the material “Kommersant” “Decathlon decided to sell”.

Laura Keffer