The Moscow City Property Department sold a 49% stake in OJSC Cosmetic Association Svoboda at an auction on Thursday for 1.57 billion rubles. According to the press service of the Russian Auction House (RAD), the lot was sold at the starting price. There were 3 bidders for it, and the winner of the bidding was Estel LLC.

The total area of all production and office premises owned by the joint-stock company is more than 101,000 sq.m., the total area of land plots (on lease) is 114,500 sq.m. The company's production facilities are located in Moscow.

“This is another major transaction carried out by the RAD in favor of the Moscow treasury. In total in 2011 - early 2012. taking into account today’s trading, the RAD sold Moscow property worth more than 7.42 billion rubles,” commented Andrey Stepanenko, general director of the Russian Auction House OJSC. He recalled that the next major project, the implementation of which will be carried out by the RAD, will be the Metropol Hotel.

newspaper According to the Vedomosti , Estel LLC is part of the Solar Products holding of Vladislav Burov. The Buket group, owned by the entrepreneur, is involved, among other things, in the production of soap, so the purchase of Svoboda is a core investment for the winning bidder.

newspaper, The Kommersant citing market experts, previously wrote that none of the major players in the cosmetics market expressed a desire to participate in the auction for the sale of Svoboda, since the production was outdated and modernization costs would be high. However, the factory owns valuable assets in the form of buildings on 101,231 square meters. m and 11.4 hectares for long-term lease on Vyatskaya Street (Savelovskaya metro area). Experts estimate the value of this land at $50 million, and the price of the buildings at $100 million.

The Svoboda association was created in 1992 by merging the plant of the same name and the Tube Plant. 49% of the JSC belonged to the mayor's office, 51% to the labor collective.

The company's production facilities include five production facilities - soap, glycerin, tube, cosmetics and the production of toothpastes and shampoos. The product range consists of more than 250 items. Among the most famous brands are the cosmetic series “Business Woman”, “Diamant”, “Green Tea”, “Milk and Honey”, the men’s series “Come il faut”, Toothpastes “Parodontol”, “Karimed”, “Family”, as well as children’s cosmetics "Alice", "Tik-Tak".

Svoboda's distribution network covers all regions of Russia, the Baltic and CIS countries (the key markets are Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia), as well as foreign countries (South Korea, Iran). The association has branches in Perm, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, as well as a network of branded retail stores in Moscow. According to SPARK, the company’s revenue in 2010 amounted to 2.74 billion rubles, net profit – 98.7 million.

Moscow sold 49% of the shares of the Svoboda factory for 1.6 billion rubles