CMS Russia advises Dufry on the acquisition of RegStaer-M

CMS Russia has advised global travel retailer Dufry in connection with its agreement, through its Russian Joint Venture established in 2012, to acquire a 60% stake in a major Russian duty-free and duty-paid operator RegStaer-M LLC (RegStaer Vnukovo).

CMS Russia has provided full support to the Dufry team on all legal aspects of the deal. It is a landmark transaction for the sector in Russia and the rest of the CIS that will allow Dufry to increase its presence at the airports of the Moscow air hub, while already being present at Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo. It is also in line with its growth strategy in Russia in addition to the existing operations in St. Petersburg, Sochi and Krasnodar.

Partners Vladimir Zenin and Hayk Safaryan led the deal team of CMS Russia and were supported by counsel Gregor Kennedy and Russian corporate associates Mikhail Panferov, Elizaveta Rakova and Nikolai Molostov, in addition to the firm’s specialist teams across competition, regulatory, commercial, real estate, employment and other practice areas.

Vladimir commented: “We have been delighted to advise Dufry on this key step towards the new stage of their relationship with RegStaer and to reconfirm our ability to handle complex deals and to deliver on an extremely tight timetable, under pressure and to the parties’ mutual satisfaction.”

RegStaer Vnukovo generated a sales volume of EUR 58.8 million at Vnukovo airport in FY 2018 and operates duty-free and duty-paid shops in one of the three most important airports in Moscow, Russia, which handles around 22 million passengers per year.

Dufry is a leading global travel retailer operating over 2,300 duty-free and duty-paid shops in airports, cruise lines, seaports, railway stations and downtown tourist areas. The company, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, operates in 64 countries in all six continents.