Moldretail Group (Linella chain of stores) intends to acquire Fidesco and Dinova companies.
The Competition Council received two notices at once about the economic concentration carried out by the Moldretail Group company (the owner of the Linella chain of stores). The company acquires 100% of the authorized capital of the Fidesco supermarket chain and 100% of the authorized capital of Dinova, which are part of a single group of companies. The Competition Council will examine these transactions from the point of view of comparability with a normal competitive environment and ask all interested parties to comment on how these economic concentrations might affect the competitive environment. The Moldretail Group company owns the Linella retail chain. The first store of this chain opened in 2001 and at the beginning of 2021 it included 114 stores across the country. According to official data, in the 2019 tax year, the sales revenue of Moldretail Group amounted to 3.6 billion lei (+ 28.8% compared to the previous year), and the net profit exceeded 142.3 million lei (an increase of 2.3 times). At the beginning of 2020, the company employed more than 2,970 people (+ 37%). The owner of the Moldretail Group is an entrepreneur Vasile Dragan, who owns large enterprises such as Ducates Grup (unites Vinul Codrilor, Farm Meat Sud, Corne Plus, etc.), Talion security agency, etc. It should be noted that earlier Moldretail Group acquired other supermarket chains (IMC Market, Unimarket, Victoria Market). The Fidesco company, which is acquired by Moldretail Group, is one of the first enterprises in Moldova to import and wholesale and retail food products. The first Fidesco supermarket was opened in September 1995. Currently, the chain includes 34 Fidesco supermarkets, of which 21 are in Chisinau municipality. In 2019, Fidesco's revenues from sales amounted to 715.5 million lei (+ 13% compared to the previous year), and net profit - 35.9 million lei (+ 26.5%). At the beginning of 2020, the company employed almost 800 people (+ 6%). The owners of Fidesco are the heirs of Mihail Aizin (36%), who died last year from complications caused by the coronavirus, as well as Grigore Aizin (28.2%), Igor Chinah (23.2%), Oleg Tarasov (9%) and Vasilii Ribacov (3.6%). Another company that will also become the property of Moldretail Group, DiNova, was established in 2013, its founders are Grigore Aizin (73.2%), Igor Chinah (23.2%) and Vasilii Ribacov (3.6%). Is engaged in the wholesale of food, drinks and tobacco products. Its sales revenues in 2019 amounted to 19.1 million lei (+ 12.5%), net profit - 16.1 million lei (-5.8% per year), and the number of employees - more than 90 people (+18.2%). //22.06.2021 — InfoMarket.
