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==“Amstor” retail chain. The history of creation and development of the company== In the period of 2004-2014 "Amstor" retail chain became one of the top national retail chains in Ukraine. It includes 38 supermarkets and shopping centers in 7 regions. One of its competitive advantages is high-quality and healthy products of own production - natural sausages, meat and fish delicacies, exclusive pastry, unique selection of breads baked right in the store and restaurant level cookery. "Amstor" won the confidence of the buyers thanks to its particular attention to cleanliness and careful quality control. According to the research conducted by GT PartnersUkraine consulting company in 2012 "Amstor" entered the TOP 10 food operators in Ukraine: "Amstor" chain was ranked the eighth in turnover and the ninth in total retail space. "Amstor" became the leader in Ukraine in the quantity of hypermarket format shops. In 2014 the total retail space accounted 103 thousand square meters and the total area of all the shopping centers was more than 300 thousand square meters. Ukrainian businessman Vladimir Vagorovsky is the founder of "Amstor" retail chain. The idea to open the first grocery hypermarket of European level in Donetsk came to Vladimir Vagorovsky after visiting modern grocery supermarkets in Europe with their wide selection of fresh products, vegetables, fruits, a fine assortment of flavorful baking and delicatessen. On August 28, 2003 the first grocery hypermarket "Amstor" opened in Donetsk, 23d Illicha avenue. Own bakery with hot bread and flavorful cakes, a huge range of fresh food, vegetables, fruits, goods for family and home could be found in one shop. It was a successful start of a new trading format which was first appreciated by the buyers in Donetsk and then in Eastern Ukraine. By the end of 2007 there were 19 "Amstor" shops in the East, 22 shopping centers were in the process of development. Specially established building company "Trans-Bud" performed design and construction of "Amstor" shopping centers. At the specified time period the company was developing the format of a grocery hypermarket with the sales area of 3000-6000 m2. Besides "Amstor" grocery hypermarket there was a gallery of shops which the buyers were interested in: from household appliances stores to clothing boutiques and footwear, leather goods and jewelry, housewares and home goods; and also services for the public - pharmacies, branches of banks, hairdresser's salons. By the end of 2009 "Amstor" chain included 26 shopping malls in 5 regions of Ukraine with total area of 305,8 thousand square meters: *Donetsk region – 15 *Zaporozhye – 7 *Nikolaiev – 2 *Luhansk – 1 *Poltava – 1 4 unique hi-tech shops on manufacture of high-quality and natural products of own production - a pastry shop, a butcher, a fish smoking shop and a salt curing shop were brought into operation. In 2009 there were more than 8000 employees and the turnover of the company reached 3 billion UAH. Starting from 2009 approximately 280 million UAH (about 30 million USD) of own funds of the company were invested in the development. In 2012 "Amstor" chain became national. On December 20 "Amstor" entered the market of Kiev with a new format – the first in Ukraine "supermarket of taste". In the following two years 2 more "supermarkets of taste" were opened in the capital. "Amstor" company put into practice its nine year experience in this new format. A characteristic feature of the new format is that 60% of retail space is allocated for the category of fresh products: vegetables, meat, fish and variety of restaurant quality cookery. Fresh bread and bakery products are baked directly on the trading floor in front of the customers. The concept of the market space supports the communication, emphasizes on freshness of the products and helps customers to navigate in the supermarket easily. The retail area of one "supermarket of taste" is 1000-2500 m2. On October 25, 2013 "Amstor" supermarket of taste was opened in the city of Dnepropetrovsk. For the residents of the city it was a long-awaited opening as "Amstor" popularity had already gone beyond the limits of the cities where the chain was present. 2014 - 8 successful supermarkets in the cities of Donetsk, Makeyevka, Svyatogorsk, Yasinovataya were opened. These were "Amstor" supermarkets of a new format - with retail area of 200-600 sq. m. in densely populated areas of the cities to be even closer to the customers. In 2014 "Amstor" occupied leading positions in the retail market of Ukraine. It was presented by 38 modern facilities of various formats (from own shopping centers to separate rented supermarkets with different retail area) in seven regions of Ukraine, meeting the highest standards of modern retail. The plans to open "Amstor" "supermarkets of taste" in many cities of Ukraine were approved for 2014. In long term the company planned to build its own shopping and entertainment centre with an area of about 55 thousand square meters in Odessa. It was planned to open two "Amstor" "supermarkets of taste" in Lvov: construction of its own shopping center in Vladimir Velikiy street was taking place (the land plot area exceeds 2 hectares, the total building area – 7.8 thousand square meters, "Amstor" shop area - about 2.7 thousand sq. m.), "Amstor" was to become the anchor tenant in the new shopping center "Forum Lvov". On a lease basis and property rights "Amstor" owns about 30 land plots in Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Kremenchuk, Luhansk, Alchevsk and other cities where it was planned to construct shopping centers and supermarkets. The beginning of the antiterrorist operation in Eastern Ukraine in 2014, as well as a corporate conflict with "Smart Holding", which began in December 2014, destroyed such great and far-reaching plans of the company. The shareholders of the company, changes in "Amstor" shareholder`s structure in 2009 From 2004 to October 2009 Vladimir Vagorovskiy - 40% of the shares and Eduard Shifrin (a co-owner of Midland Group) - 60% of the shares were the shareholders of the company. In 2004-2007 "Amstor" shareholders` strategy was to create a major player in the retail sector in a short period of time, which entered the top five in terms of sales in Ukraine and on the growth stage to sell the business. In the framework of the strategy planned new stores were opened, a growth potential was formed - land plots bank (about 30 land plots) intended for new stores. In 2007 the search for potential buyers started. E&Y experts assessed the business, before this KPMG auditing company prepared an audit of "Amstor" for the period of 2005-2006. At the beginning of 2008 investment intermediary Bank, Credit Suisse, was selected. By August 2008 Investment Memorandum had been prepared, non-binding offers from investors (including Caufland, X5) had been obtained. Walmart showed its interest. In late 2008 negotiations with "Smart-Holding" began. The Holding was also interested in obtaining a stake in the business. In 2009 Shifrin decided to sell all Ukrainian assets, including his share in "Amstor" to Vadim Novinsky`s company "Smart-Holding". In March 2009 "Smart-Holding" transferred a guarantee payment in the amount of 3 million USD as a confirmation of its interest in the transaction. With the help of PWC a complex (financial, legal) examination of the current business state was carried out, evaluation of the need for investment to increase the company's capitalization was performed. The results of the audit were ready in the 2nd quarter of 2009 and they were expected for both parties. The signing of the deal was planned after the audit. But, having received the access to the information about "Amstor" company, "Smart-Holding" began to delay the process in every possible way, and in parallel applied power pressure on the company. At the end of September 2009 "Amstor" experienced a massive attack of security agencies. Pretentious allegations in pram smuggling became the motive for the attack. Simultaneously searches were conducted in all "Amstor" stores (at that time 24 objects), in the houses of the company heads, company accounts were arrested, office machines and equipment, documentation were seized. Information about these activities was spreading fast, the suppliers felt growing panic .〔http://novosti.dn.ua/details/96771/〕〔http://cripo.com.ua/print.php?sect_id=10&aid=79810〕〔http://fromdonetsk.net/amstor-atakuyut.html〕 The pressure of law enforcement officials and general economic crisis in the country lead to the fact that in October 2009 "Smart-Holding" got a share in "Amstor" on unfavorable conditions for the existing shareholders of "Amstor" group – Novinsky V. V. got 70% of the company`s shares with a 3 billion-dollar turnover and own real estate for more than 300 thousand sq. m. for nominal 200 USD (100 USD for each of the shareholders), but "Smart-Holding" gave a commitment to finance further development of the chain and redeem the debts of "Amstor" group of companies from Shifrin (77 million USD). When "Smart-Holding" became a shareholder of the company the pressure of the security agencies on "Amstor" and top managers stopped and the criminal case was closed for lack of corpus delicti. In the contract of guarantee dated October 27, 2009 signed by Vadim Novinsky. it was indicated that the purchasing party ("Smart-Holding") intended to provide the company with loans and other debt obligations on the terms, which would be agreed in the future. At that the funds for business development were to be received before the end of 2010 and 2013. In the future time showed that "Smart - Holding" with its extensive experience in hostile takeovers and mergers had drawn up the contract so that it gave it a possibility not to fulfill its investment obligations and take complete control over the company. '' The need of "Amstor" company in financial resources for performing its current activity and further development was registered in business plans which were presented to "Smart-Holding" and it was confirmed by PWC (attracted by "Smart-Holding") in the course of the audit. It is indicated in the business plans that Smart Holding must provide 20 million USD of stabilization loan and up to 100 million USD for business development (in the assets of the company there were about 30 land plots intended for the construction of stores). In the future the agreed financing was rejected by "Smart-Holding", thus unilaterally Novinskiy refused to fulfill the guarantee signed by him. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Amstor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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