The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has allowed Silpo-Food LLC, a member of Fozzy Group (Kyiv), to buy Furshet retail chain, Silpo announces a preliminary agreement on the transfer of some supermarkets.

"Silpo-Food reached a preliminary agreement with Furshet retail chain on the possibility of transferring to the management of Silpo-Food part of the supermarkets operating under the Furshet trade mark. The implementation of the project will begin if permission is obtained from the AMCU," the Fozzy Group press service told Interfax-Ukraine.

As noted in the AMCU statement, the participants in the concentration refused to purchase assets in settlements where their shares were significant, and the concentration could lead to restriction of competition.

Thus, after analyzing the activities of participants in Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kalush, Kamianske, Kamianets-Podilsky, Korostyshiv, Malyn, Netishyn, Nikopol, Obukhiv, Poltava, Pryluky, Smila, Truskavets, Uman, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, ​​Irpin, Kyiv, Kryvy Rih and Kropyvnytsky, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine came to the conclusion that the shares of participants in these markets in 2019 and the nine months of 2020 do not exceed 30%.

Thus, the AMCU made a decision that the announced concentration would not lead to monopolization or significant restriction of competition in the commodity markets of Ukraine and granted the corresponding permission.

According to the information on the Furshet website, the chain currently includes 25 stores in various regions of the country, including 11 in Kyiv.

The sole shareholder of the company is PrJSC Anthousa Limited (Great Britain) with a charter capital of UAH 2 million, the supervisory board of which is headed by member of Kyiv City Council Ihor Balenko.

As reported, the Economic Court of Dnipropetrovsk region on January 18 opened proceedings on bankruptcy of the subsidiary Retail Center, which owns the Furshet supermarket chain and introduced a moratorium on satisfying creditors' claims and a procedure for disposing of the debtor's property.

Fozzy Group is one of the largest Ukrainian retailers with about 690 outlets throughout the country. As of 2019, the total area of Fozzy Group stores was more than 1 million square meters.