Lenta retail chain intends to buy O'Key hypermarkets - media

MOSCOW. Aug 27 (Interfax) - The Lenta retail chain, owned by Alexei Mordashov's Severgroup, intends to buy O'Key hypermarkets , the Izvestia newspaper reported, citing a source in Severgroup and another close to the beneficiaries of O'Key Group.

According to the publication's sources, the deal to purchase the hypermarkets is at the stage of a non-binding offer (NBO), which involves defining terms between the seller and the buyer.

Representatives of Lenta and O'Key declined to comment.

Experts interviewed by the publication estimated the potential deal at 40 billion to 55 billion rubles.

However, the sale of the hypermarkets to a third-party investor can only be carried out after the stores are withdrawn from the perimeter of O'Key Group, the source close to the company's beneficiaries told the publication. The source believes this will happen no earlier than 2026.

In December 2024, the board of directors of O'Key Group made a decision to sell the Russian hypermarket business to the company's management. This deal, in addition to the stores, also included the trademark and logistics infrastructure, while the discount chain Da! will continue to remain under the group's control, the company said.

An Izvestia source in O'Key Group said that the process of selling the hypermarkets had somewhat dragged on, and the company is now awaiting a decision from a government commission, which must approve the deal to sell the hypermarkets to Russian top management. The company intends to complete the business restructuring by the end of 2025, the publication's source said.

O'Key Group is one of the largest food retail chains in Russia. The parent company O'KEY Group S.A. is registered in Luxembourg. As of June 30, 2025, the retailer operated 77 hypermarkets and 226 Da! discount stores with a total area of 664,800 square meters.

According to the company's website, the main beneficiaries of O'KEY Group S.A. are Dmitry Troitsky (34.5%) and Boris Volchek (34.1%). The revenue of O'Key Group amounted to 219.4 billion rubles in 2024, up 5.5% compared to the figure for the previous year.

Lenta is the largest hypermarket chain in Russia and the fourth largest retailer by revenue. As of June 30, 2025, Lenta manages 268 hypermarkets, 353 supermarkets, 3,400 convenience stores and 1,798 drogerie stores in more than 650 localities across Russia.