Russian hypermarket chain Lenta, which is part-owned by US private equity firm TPG, has formally announced its intention to float on the London stock exchange.
In a statement issued today, CEO Jan Dunning said that the flotation will mark "a mar milestone for us and comes at an exciting time in Lenta's development".
"Our business model and flexible store formats have a proven ability to capture growth potential in the Russian food retail market, and Lenta is now pushing ahead with a program of store rollout across Russia. We now plan to double our selling space over the next three years".
TPG owns a 49.8% stake in Lenta. Russian bank VTB, which owns 11.7% of Lenta, has previously said it wants to sell by 2015.
It is thought that when TPG first bought into Lenta in 2009 , along with VTB, they got a 35.4% stake for $115 million. This would have valued the company at around $325 million then, meaning a massive potential for return.
Lenta has 77 hypermarkets in 45 cities across Russia.
Lenta generated 110 billion roubles ($3.2 billion) in sales in 2012, which ranked it Russia's number five food retailer by revenue behind Magnit, X5, Dixy and O'Key.
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Enda Dowling
