Yandex Wants To Buy a Supermarket Chain “Azbuka Vkusa”

Yandex is negotiating the purchase of a chain of expensive supermarkets “Azbuka Vkusa”. The meaning of the deal is in synergy with the product delivery service Yandex.Lavka, writes The Bell.

One of the largest shareholders of Azbuka Vkus is Roman Abramovich, who has recently been a minority shareholder in Yandex. Analysts estimate the market value of “Azbuka” at the level of up to 20 billion rubles.

Both companies are targeting a premium audience, Lavka is actively developing a segment of the sale of ready-to-eat food, in which Azbuka Vkusa is historically strong, and will be able to quickly expand this direction through the deal. In addition, such a deal will help reduce purchase prices for Lavka by merging purchases with a large retailer.

Azbuka Vkusa is one of the key partners of Yandex.Lavka: the service has been selling ready-made food from Azbuka for several months, and the retailer itself recently announced that it is giving exclusive delivery of products from Azbuka Vkusa to Yandex services, and will refuse to partner with its competitors.

Source: The Bell