St-Petersburg, Russia; 2 December, 2014– Lenta, (LSE, MOEX: LNTA) one of the largest retail chains in Russia, announces that it has completed the acquisition of three hypermarkets in Central Russia.

Lenta has completed the transaction announced on 27 October to acquire three Bimart hypermarkets in Central Russia. The transaction was funded by existing cash resources.
Two of the hypermarkets are located in the city of Ivanovo with approximately 6,400 sq.m. of selling space each, the third hypermarket is located in Vladimir and has approximately 9,800 sq.m. of selling space. Both Ivanovo and Vladimir are underpenetrated by modern grocery retail and have large middle-class populations with demographic profiles which match well with Lenta’s offering. All three stores will be served by Lenta’s Distribution Centre in the Moscow region.

Integration is already underway. The stores will be fully integrated with Lenta, including adoption of Lenta branding, supply chain, central IT systems and HR processes. Employees will benefit from Lenta’s extensive training and development programmes.

Lenta’s Chief Executive Officer, Jan Dunning said:

“We are very pleased to have completed this transaction which further strengthens our position in the Central region. While Lenta remains primarily focused on its successful organic growth programme, we are occasionally able to complement this through the acquisition of high quality assets such as the Bimart stores.

The stores all have excellent urban strategic locations and are similar to Lenta in terms of their set-up and discounting strategy. We are also delighted to welcome their well trained and effective store management and operational teams into the Lenta family.

Lenta remains on track to open at least 24 hypermarkets and 15 supermarkets in 2014, and we maintain our long-term target to double net selling space over the three years to December 2016.”

About Lenta

Lenta is one of the largest retail chains in Russia and the country’s second largest hypermarket chain (in terms of 2013 sales). The Company was founded in 1993 in St. Petersburg. Lenta operates 91 hypermarkets in 51 cities across Russia and 18 supermarkets in Moscow and the Moscow region, with a total of approximately 590,784 sq.m. of selling space. The average Lenta hypermarket store has selling space of approximately 6,400 sq.m. The Company operates four hypermarket distribution centres.

The Company’s price-led hypermarket formats are differentiated in terms of their promotion and pricing strategies as well as their local product assortment. The Company employed approximately 27,800 people as of 31 December 2013.

The Company’s management team combines a mix of local knowledge and international expertise coupled with extensive operational experience in Russia. Lenta’s largest shareholders include TPG Capital, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and VTB Capital Private Equity, all of whom are committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance. Lenta is listed on the London Stock Exchange and on the Moscow Exchange and trades under the ticker: ‘LNTA’.

A brief video summary on Lenta’s business can be seen here.

For further information please visit www.lentainvestor.com, or contact:

Lenta
Anna Meleshina,
Public Relations & Government Affairs Director
Tel: +7 812 363 28 53
E-mail: anna.meleshina@lenta.com

Yana Mogileva, PR Manager
Ňel:+7 (812) 336 39 97
E-mail: yana.mogileva@lenta.com

Instinctif Partners
International Media:
Mark Walter and Tony Friend
Ňel:+44 (0)20 7457 2020
E-mail: Mark.Walter@instinctif.com

Russian Media:
Anton Karpov
Ňel:+7 495 660 05 91
E-mail: Anton.Karpov@instinctif.com