Magnit acquired a plot of land in Sochi for the construction of a large-format store The Krasnodar chain Magnit announced the purchase of AgroTorg LLC for 310 million rubles. The main asset of the LLC is a land plot in the Adler district of Sochi, on which the retailer plans to build the city's first hypermarket. Experts in the commercial real estate and retail market note that the hypermarket format is promising for the resort city, but they foresee difficulties in the operation of the future store due to its remoteness from the densely populated areas of Sochi.

Yesterday, OJSC Magnit announced the acquisition of ownership of a 98% stake in the authorized capital of the limited liability company AgroTorg, the transaction amounted to 310 million rubles. The director of the department for relations with investors of the Magnit company, Oleg Goncharov, explained to Kommersant that the main asset of the LLC is a plot of 17 hectares in the Adler district of Sochi. OJSC Magnit intends to build the city's first hypermarket on the acquired site.

Open Joint Stock Company "Magnit" is a holding company of a group of companies engaged in retail trade through a chain of stores of the same name. The Magnit chain has 2,565 stores in the convenience store format in 856 locations in Russia. The Magnit company also owns 14 hypermarkets in various cities of Russia, including on the Black Sea coast - in Anapa and Gelendzhik. Consolidated revenue for the nine months of 2008 according to IFRS - $3.88 billion, EBITDA - $265 million, net profit - $118.9 million.

The Magnit company does not name the amount of investment in the project and the timing of putting the facility into operation, as well as the sources of financing. According to Kommersant, before the financial crisis, the cost of construction and equipment of 1 sq. m. meter of retail space in the hypermarket format in the region was about $1.5 thousand, the area of hypermarkets opened by the Magnit chain reaches 20 thousand square meters. meters, thus, the investor’s costs for one object can amount to a maximum of $30 million.

During the crisis, experts find it difficult to determine the investor's expenses, since the market is experiencing opposite trends in the formation of the cost of materials, labor, credit resources and other factors affecting the price of commercial real estate. In total, the investment program of OJSC “Magnit” involves the opening of up to 10 hypermarkets in 2009. According to Kommersant, out of 10 large-format retail facilities launched by the company, six have a degree of completion above 50%.

Commercial real estate and retail market experts note that the hypermarket format is promising for Sochi. However, they believe that the success of the project will largely depend on the specific location of the new facility. According to GVA Sawyer South, there are currently three retail chains operating in Sochi: Paterson, Pyaterochka (X5 Retail Group) and Magnit, all of them are located in different parts of the city and are focused on the area where they are located. “Difficulties may arise in the operation of a district hypermarket due to its poor accessibility for customers due to the specifics of the city: large traffic jams, difficult transport conditions, etc.,” says Evgeniy Panasenko, project manager at GVA Sawyer South.

Director of the representative office of Penny Lane Realty in Sochi, Sergei Nikitin, also believes that the project in the short term is subject to risks associated with the remoteness of the facility from densely populated areas of Sochi. However, in his opinion, as the Olympic project develops, proximity to the Olympic venues, which will be located in the Adler region, will become an advantage.

Ilya Volodko, General Director of the consulting company MACON Realty Group (Krasnodar), argues that the Magnit format, compared to other projects, will be least exposed to risks associated with instability in financial markets and a drop in consumer demand, since for buyers the main selection criterion will be the low price of goods, which traditionally distinguishes this retail chain, the expert believes.

The X5 and Paterson companies did not comment on the plans of the Magnit network. “We never speak out about the actions of other market participants,” X5 public relations manager Elena Cherkalova explained to Kommersant.

Anna Perova, Krasnodar

LLC with the prefix “hyper”