Marathon Group Marathon Group

Marathon Group LLC (Marathon Group brand) was founded in 2017 by shareholders of the company Alexander Vinokurov and Sergey Zakharov. Later, Andrei Tyasto joined them as a partner. The main activities of the company are investments in pharmaceutical, infrastructure and agricultural projects and the subsequent development of these assets.

The Marathon Pharma subholding combines the distributor SIA Group, the Mega Pharm pharmacy chain (A-Mega, Yes, Healthy!, ABC Life), OJSC Kurgan Joint Stock Company of Medical Products and Products Sintez, CJSC Biocom, the company's stake in Bentus Laboratories LLC (produces products under the Sanitelle brand) and in LLC Nobfort Immunological Vaccines Production (produces products under the Sanitelle brand); currently closing the transaction), JSC "National Immunobiological Company"; under the Marathon Sport brand - sports club "Section," training service IQ Sports and cycling team Marathon-Tula Cycling Team.

History

2024: Buying a stake in Grow Food

On February 1, 2024, it became known about the sale of a stake in Grow Food to an investment company, Marathon Group which is the largest shareholder in the retailer Magnet"." The deal is closed. More. here

2021: Purchase of a stake in Magnit for 100 billion rubles

On November 19, 2021, VTB officially announced the sale of its stake in the Magnit network. We are talking about 17.28% of the retailer's ordinary shares. Read more here.

2019

Completion of the sale of Synthesis and Biocom

Marathon Group and AFK Sistema closed the acquisition of pharmaceutical companies Sintez and Biocom. This was announced on August 8, 2019 by the Marathon Group. Read more here.

Sale of AFK Sistema to pharmaceutical companies Sintez and Biocom

AFK Sistema, a public Russian diversified holding company, and investment company Marathon Group on June 7, 2019 announced the signing of binding documentation on the acquisition of shares in two pharmaceutical companies - Kurgan Society of Medicines and Products Sintez and Biocom. The closing of the transaction is expected within three months, after receiving the approval of the FAS and fulfilling other preventive conditions. The transaction price is not disclosed, but, as specified, depends on a number of conditions agreed by the parties. Read more here.

2018: Purchase of 11.82% of Magnit shares from VTB for 62.5 billion rubles

In May 2018, VTB Group sold an 11.82% stake in the Magnit retail chain to Marathon Group, founded by the former head of the A1 investment company (a division of Alfa Group) Alexander Vinokurov and his partner Sergei Zakharov.

The state bank did not disclose the amount of the transaction, but noted that the market value of the 12.05 million shares sold was 62.5 billion rubles ($1.02 billion) as of May 23. As a result of the transaction, VTB's share in the authorized capital of Magnit decreased from 29.1 to 17.28%.

VTB stressed that they still consider this acquisition as a long-term investment, planning to bring Magnit to a qualitatively new level of its development, and noted that the stake remaining at their disposal is still sufficient to participate in the management of the company through the board of directors.

"Initially, the deal implied that we should buy most of the package of Sergei Nikolaevich (Galitsky - Forbes)... The most optimal ownership for VTB at the moment will be within 20%, "said Yury Solovyov, First Deputy President and Chairman of the Bank's Board, specifying that VTB will retain such a stake for a long time. "We sold the package at a market price, plus we received a margin for the bank," said a representative of the state bank (quoted by TASS).

The Marathon Group called the deal to acquire the Magnit package a strategic investment. And they explained that their own and borrowed funds were attracted to the cash transaction, which is structured as a repo transaction. What kind of banks are in question, the company's message does not say, but Soloviev later told Interfax that VTB participated in financing the Marathon Group in this transaction, and Vinokurov himself explained that VTB was the main creditor of the transaction.

The Marathon Group also quoted Vinokurov as saying that the company initially announced its interest in projects in the retail sector and was glad to have the opportunity to participate in the development of the largest Russian retailer.

Magnit is currently an undervalued asset, and we believe that with certain efforts on the part of management and shareholders, the chain will be able to return its fair value and first place among Russian retailers, "he said.

Marathon stressed that the group's interests in the retail sector are not limited to acquiring a stake in Magnit: the company will continue to work on projects to expand its presence in the market, for which the Marathon Retail subholding has been formed.

Vinokurov also added that for the company, buying a stake in Magnit is a long-term investment, we are strategically interested in the retail market.

"It is more likely to increase our share in the medium term than the sale of the package," he concluded. According to the businessman, his company will participate in the management of the network through the board of directors and the meeting of shareholders in accordance with the share in the share capital.

2017: Buyback of a 5% stake in Biocom from a minority shareholder

Marathon Group closed the deal to acquire a 5% stake in ordinary registered shares of the Stavropol pharmaceutical plant Biokom from a minority shareholder. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but it is indicated that the payment was made in cash. As a result, the consolidated stake in CJSC Biocom, controlled by Marathon Group, reached 80.1%, the rest of the shares belong to the management of the enterprise. Read more here.