The Swedish company IKEA has sold its last furniture factory in Russia, IKEA Industry Novgorod, in Podberezye, Novgorod region. The buyer was co-owner of St. Petersburg furniture company Slotex Vadim Osipov. On this subject writing “Kommersant” in reference to the representative of Slotex. Osipov confirmed the deal to the publication.
According to him, the company will develop independently and will not be part of Slotex.
Earlier in March, two of IKEA’s main furniture and wood factories – in Tikhvin, Leningrad region, and in the village of Krasnaya Polyana, Kirov region – were taken over by the processing company Luzales wood. Chairman of the Board of Ruslan Semenyuk Company said RBC that the new owner of the IKEA factories can start producing school and children’s furniture.
The parties do not disclose the amount of transactions, but, according to Kommersant, their total amount could be around 15 billion rubles. IKEA has valued three of its businesses at nearly 20 billion rubles, a source familiar with the matter told the publication. However, the government commission for the control of foreign investments agreed to approve the deal with a discount of up to 25%, the newspaper writes.
IKEA still has a network of Mega shopping centers in Russia with a total area of 2.34 million square meters. Mr.
The government commission approved the agreement to sell three IKEA factories in Russia in mid-February 2023. Deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Viktor Yevtukhov said that after the change of ownership, the goods produced by these factories would go to Russian stores.
RBC wrote that IKEA decided to get rid of all Russian assets. In mid-March, the Ministry of Industry and Trade included IKEA products in the list of goods for parallel imports.
