OBI retail network can go under the control of the structures of the Northgroups of Mordashov
The OBI retail network can go under the control of the structures of the Northgroups Alexei Mordashov. The Syndika group decided to sell the asset due to bad financial indicators, hoping to help out more than 7 billion rubles for it. But in reality, the transaction value will rather be symbolic: the business of one of the largest networks of home and repair goods in Russia has long been unprofitable. After the transaction is completed by the development of OBI, the NENNA network controlled by the Northgroups may be engaged in the Northgroups.
The structures of Northgroups of Alexei Mordashov (Forbes estimates his state at $ 28.6 billion), OBI hypermarket hypermarkets can redeem, said Shopper’s publication with reference to several consultants and tenants. According to them, the businessman has already received a share in the company, having bought it from the structures of Syndika HC Arsen Kanokov. The interlocutors of Kommersant in the market confirmed this information.
Syndiki President Oleg Eskindarov explained to Kommersant that 25% in the company was sold to a new strategic investor without revealing the name of the buyer and details of the transaction.
In the « Northgroups » and « Ribbon » (also controlled by Mr. Mordashov) they refused comments. In OBI “Kommersant” did not answer promptly.
The German OBI GmbH has been working in Russia since 2003, specializes in DIY-Tovar sales. With the beginning of the armed conflict in Ukraine, the German side left the Russian business. The shops suspended work, but later they were launched again. The main Russian legal entities OBI (Obi Fc LLC, DIY LLC, LLC “Make DIY North-West” and LLC “Make yourself Kazan”) several times changed the owners. In 2023, they crossed the Allonge JSC, which the media associated with the structures of Syndics. At the end of April 2025, 24.99% in three of the five legal entities OBI received Hermes LLC, followed by SPARK data. The beneficiary of the company is the little -known entrepreneur Vladimir Gravtoshin.
OBI remains one of the largest DIY vertelers in the Russian market, managing 26 stores. The company, according to Infoline, takes eighth place among specialized networks. In 2024, the revenue of the network amounted to 24.6 billion rubles, adding 4.2% a year to the year.
For the sale of OBI, Syndika planned to help out 7-8 billion rubles, but the market price of the asset, most likely, is less due to the “EBIDTA near-mowl indicator”, Kommersant’s source in the market of trading real estate.
Infoline analytics general, Mikhail Burmistrov, doubts that the cost of the OBI purchase transaction amounted to more than 5 billion rubles. The head of the M&A BGP Capital department, Ivan Peshkov, is inclined to the fact that the price of the asset was completely symbolic: “The business has long been deeply unprofitable, last year the loss from sales has reached 3 billion rubles.” The expert assumes that for foreign owners the Russian market was not key, and after transferring the asset, managerial mistakes could be made to new owners.
It was unsatisfactory financial indicators that prompted Syndika to sell a business, says Kommersant’s source in the market. This, in his opinion, may be associated, including with an unsuccessful location of stores: objects in the traders attract less and less consumer attention. Another interlocutor of Kommersant says that since the summer of 2024, Syndiki’s structure began to consider not only the sale of a business, but also the involvement of a partner. At the beginning of 2025, according to him, negotiations on the transfer of 50% of the shares in the OBI business were undergoing from the “North groups”.
Shopper’s interlocutors suggest that after the transaction is completed with the structures of Mr. Mordashov OBI, it will be integrated into the business “tape”. But even after that, the network, most likely, will continue to work under its own sign, suggests the source of Kommersant in the retail market. For the “tape”, this transaction, in his opinion, is unlikely to have a significant synergetic effect: OBI loses to competitors. The turnover of the DIY RETILAL market, according to Infoline, in 2024 amounted to 5.7 trillion rubles, adding 18.7% a year to the year. But now his growth rate is slowing down: according to the results of this year, they can be 6-8%, predicted earlier in Lemana Pro. This is due to a decrease in demand for housing and an increase in the cost of repair work (See “Kommersant” from April 16).
