The Competition Committee has approved the acquisition of the Baraka Market chain of stores, as reported by the press service of the regulatory authority.
The application was submitted by the producer of soft drinks, International Beverages Tashkent (IBT). The company expressed its intention to acquire a 100% stake in the joint venture Urban Retail, which operates under the Baraka Market brand.
Following the analysis, the special commission of the Committee determined that "this transaction constitutes a corporate structural reorganization and does not have a direct impact on the competitive environment." The regulatory authority approved the application.
According to the registry of legal entities (EGRPO), LLC Urban Retail was established in July 2020 in Tashkent and is engaged in the wholesale trade of non-alcoholic beverages. Nikolai Viktorovich Razumovsky is listed as the company's manager.
The company's charter capital amounts to 5 billion soums. Currently, 99% of the stake is held by Holten Enterprise Holdings Ltd, registered in the UAE, while the remaining 1% belongs to Holten Group Corp. They are also listed as co-founders of International Beverages Tashkent, holding stakes of 99.9% and 0.1%, respectively.
International Beverages Tashkent produces Pepsi, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, 7Up, Adrenaline Rush, and Lipton beverages in Uzbekistan. In 2019, the government put a stake in the enterprise up for sale, and in 2022, the Antimonopoly Committee approved the acquisition of a 99.9% stake by the Emirati company Holten Enterprise Holdings.
Earlier, Spot reported on the product categories where the Competition Committee sees the greatest potential for localization.